RWBY: Starting at Checkmate
by Novandalis
Summary: The White Fang isn't the only thing on Blake's mind after her encounter with Roman at the docks. A harmless crush is turning into an obsession, and she'll need to do something about it before it gets out of hand. Things get complicated very quickly, friendships will be tested, and team RWBY may never be the same again. Rated M for adult and suggestive language.
1. Whenever I Think of You

**Hello, and welcome to my second fanfic! With how well the reaction was to my first, I hope that this next story will go over just as well. I've gotten a ton of feedback and learned a lot from it, so I'm ready to hit the ground running here. If you haven't before, I recommend going and checking out my first story, A Neo Outlook on Life. Anyway, I'll let you start reading now. Please leave a review and let me know what you think, and follow if you want to be the first to know when there are updates! Enjoy!**

Chapter 1: Whenever I Think of You

The spring semester at Beacon was only a week away, and the students were slowly getting ready to return to their normal routine of classes. That is, except for team RWBY. After their recent encounter with Roman Torchwick at the docks, some of them were more interested in answers, Blake in particular. Still, today they were trying to relax, but a food fight with team JNPR today at lunch seemed to have put an end to that, at least for the time being. The team burst through the doors of their room, all four girls covered in bits of food and splashes of drinks. While three of them didn't seem too phased by the mess, the fourth looked on the verge of screaming.

"I'm telling you, this grape soda colour is not going to come out of my hair!" Weiss exclaimed, making a bee line for her dresser. She grabbed a new set of clothes, along with shampoo, soap, and towels, before trudging over to the bathroom.

Yang couldn't help but laugh, "I dunno, I think purple would suit you pretty well." The heiress shot her a dirty look before slamming the bathroom door behind her. "Sheesh, she needs to lighten up a little. She can be such a party pooper."

"Oh come on, she's not that bad," Ruby replied, although she couldn't entirely disagree.

"Meh, I suppose. Hey Blake, where'd you put my shampoo after you borrowed it?"

"Huh?" the Faunus girl asked as she snapped out of a daydream. "Oh, it's over on my dresser."

Ever since her fight at the docks, Blake's thoughts had been everywhere but where they needed to be. The White Fang's involvement with whatever Roman was up to worried her considerably, and it was really starting to show in her physical appearance. Of course, that wasn't the only thing on her mind, but she wanted the other to stay a secret for as long as possible.

Yang smiled, "Perfect, thanks! Hey, do you think Weiss would mind if I went in to join her? There are three shower heads after all."

"I don't think that's a good idea," her sister replied with an expression somewhere between amused and grossed out.

"Awww... alright," the blonde huffed. Blake and Ruby both gave her a quizzical look, making her roll her eyes. "What? I wanna get all this food off me before it dries, and I've got dust and shit in my hair from going through the ceiling."

"I wouldn't be opposed," Blake said under her breath, though mostly to herself. Luckily, none of her teammates heard. She wasn't about to say anything, not yet at least, but Roman wasn't the only person on her mind. She'd been having a lot of strange dreams lately. They all revolved her being in a relationship with a certain girl, whom she found herself falling for more and more with each passing day. Some of them were innocent enough, just the two of them together on a walk, or having dinner at a nice restaurant. On the other hand, some of them involved nothing but pure sex and fantasy. The fact that it was a girl wasn't what bothered her, she'd been bisexual for a few years now, rather it was the girl that she now couldn't seem to get out of her head that was causing the problem.

Weiss emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, and Blake rushed in to take her spot before either of the other girls had the chance to oppose. She undressed and threw her likely ruined outfit on the hamper after turning on the water to let it heat up before she got in. Since she wasn't the first one in here it didn't take long, and she let the hot water cascade over her shoulders as she took a moment to relax and clear her head.

' _It still smells like Weiss in here,_ ' she immediately thought, bringing a small smile to her face. ' _No, damn it, I need to stop thinking about her. They're just dreams, not real... And even if I wanted them to be real... it would just never happen. She's so... cold, and mean, and proper, and beautiful... Fuck! I have to do something about this, but what? There's no way I can tell her, not after the way she reacted to me being a Faunus. Maybe I can talk to someone? Gah! Why is this even bothering me so much? She's not the first person I've had a crush on, but this is just so... different somehow.'_

She shook her head before putting it under the water and letting it flow through her raven-coloured locks. To her dismay, the food in her hair had already dried, and it took her over fifteen minutes to scrub all of it out along with what was caked on the rest of her body. On the bright side, she didn't spend any of that time thinking about Weiss. After finishing her shower, she dried off and put on her new clothes before coming out and giving Yang the chance to clean herself up, followed afterward by Ruby.

"So what do you guys wanna do today?" Yang asked once everyone was showered and dressed.

"I'm probably just going to stay here and read," Blake replied as she took up her usual position on her bed, grabbing the book she'd been reading off the nightstand.

Yang rolled her eyes, "Laaaaame. C'mon, what about you, Ruby?"

"Sorry sis, I promised Pyrrha I'd help her and Jaune with some training today. Maybe Weiss will go somewhere with you though."

Weiss shook her head, "No thank you, I've got some studying I need to catch up on in the library."

"You guys are no fun, you know that?" Yang huffed. "Whatever, there's a party on the other side of campus tonight. I guess I can find something to entertain myself till then."

Ruby looked concerned at the statement, "Another party? You've been out almost every night this week, maybe you should slow down a little?"

"She's right," Blake added. "Or at least if you go, come back here afterwards instead of spending the night with another random guy, it's not safe."

"Relax, I'm fine. I know my limits and how to be safe and blah blah blah. And besides, do you really think there's a guy on campus whose ass I couldn't kick if he tried anything funny? Anyway, you guys are welcome to come with if you'd like. It'll be fun!"

"Pass" came simultaneously from the rest of her team.

"Alright, fine," the blonde groaned. "I guess it couldn't hurt to hang with Weiss for a while and study. Blake, you wanna join us?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "When did I say you could come study with me?"

"When did I say you had a choice in the matter? Anyway, Blake, you in?"

Blake shrunk down into her bed at the thought of spending the afternoon in close quarters with Weiss, "I, uh... N-No, that's alright, I think I'll actually go out, try to get some fresh air." Yang shrugged and left soon after with Weiss for the library. Blake ended up tagging along with Ruby for the afternoon to help out with Jaune's training session. She was pleasantly surprised by the progress the boy had made since arriving here, but he still had a long way to go before he could rival his classmates. The afternoon was fairly productive, with several sparring matches between the four of them to insure everyone had time to rest between fights. It suddenly dawned on Blake as she sat down after a match as to who she could talk with about her feelings, especially after picking up on some of the looks Pyrrha kept giving to Jaune throughout the session.

' _Of course, Pyrrha! She's got to have someone helpful to say about your crush not liking you back. That sounded kinda mean... Whatever, it wasn't meant to be, and she can't hear this anyway._ '

She waited until it was Ruby's turn to spar with Jaune, and scooted closer to Pyrrha on the bench so she could talk to her a little more quietly. Not that she thought Ruby or Jaune would go around telling people if they overheard, but she wanted as few people to know about her feelings as possible until she figured out exactly what she wanted to do about them.

"Hey, Pyrrha, can I talk to you about something?" she asked shyly. "Something kinda... personal."

Pyrrha gave her a slightly confused look, "Of course, what's wrong?"

' _Okay, here we go. How do I even start? I don't wanna just come out and say it, but I don't wanna be too vague, that'll only make her more curious._ '

Blake sighed, "Okay, well... I sorta have a... a crush on someone I can't have a crush on. I thought at first it'd pass, but they're all I can think about now, and I don't know what you do. I was hoping you might have something helpful to say. I'm starting to lose my mind, so really anything will help."

Pyrrha tried to suppress a laugh, but failed, "Really? Come on, Blake, we all know you like Sun. It's pretty obvious that he likes you too. Just go for it!"

"It um... It's not Sun..."

"Wait, what?" Pyrrha asked with more shock in her tone than she would've liked. "I don't understand... You two have been acting so-"

"I know, I know," Blake interrupted. "Don't get me wrong Sun's a great guy, but... it's not him. I wish it were. It'd make everything so much easier."

Blake's vagueness had done exactly what she'd hoped it wouldn't, and Pyrrha had to know more. "Alright, well may I ask who it is then? And why exactly can't you have a crush on them in the first place?"

"I'd really rather keep that to myself for now," the Faunus girl said quietly, turning her eyes down to her feet. "Not that I think you'd tell them, but... I don't know, I feel like if they find out it'll just make things so much more awkward, and I don't want to hurt my team like that." As soon as the words left her mouth Blake realised her mistake and froze. Her eyes widened, but she kept her gaze at the ground and desperately hoped Pyrrha hadn't picked up on it.

Pyrrha raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Hurt your team? Wait, so... it's one of your teammates?"

' _Damn it, I had to keep going... There's not a way out of this now, is there?_ ' There probably was a way she could've lied and gotten past the slip, but lying about this just seemed idiotic.

"I... Well... Y-Yeah, it is."

"Okay... Well, I'm guessing it's not Ruby because of how young she is, so... is it Yang?" Pyrrha hesitantly asked. Blake was still for a moment, contemplating whether or not to answer. Finally she shook her head no, and Pyrrha gasped. "Weiss?"

Blade nodded before turning to see the look of utter shock on Pyrrha's face. ' _Yeah, that's about the reaction I expected._ '

"Alright, yes, it's Weiss," Blake replied in a hushed and somewhat sad tone. She knew there was no way Ruby or Jaune could hear her, and that no one else was around, but it still felt like something she had to say in a whisper. "Now please promise me you won't tell anyone. I don't know what I want to do about this yet, and I'm afraid of what'll happen if she finds out."

Pyrrha gave a comforting smile, "I won't tell a soul. But... wow! Of all the people at Beacon, I never would've seen you falling for someone like her. What brought it on in the first place?"

"I'm really not sure," Blake replied, giving a hint of a smile back. It was a huge relief to not only have finally said it, but also to have such a positive response to it. "I've been having a lot of dreams about us being together. I don't remember exactly when they started, but she's all I've been able to think about since. I've never felt this strongly before, it's weird. If it were anyone else I know I wouldn't be having this problem, but the fact that it's her makes everything so much more complicated."

"Why do you say that?" Pyrrha asked, and Blake gave her a look as if she were crazy.

"You're joking, right? She's Weiss Schnee! Even if we set aside the fact that she's my teammate, someone with that kind of money, power, and refinement would never go for someone like me. Not to mention I'm a Faunus, we know how she and her family feel about that, and I'm also pretty sure she's straight."

Pyrrha put a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder, "You'll never know unless you try. As far as being from a wealthy family, there's not much you can do about that, but you're still an amazing person. The only way you're going to make any progress with this is if you tell her how you feel. Even if she says no, then at least you'll have closure."

"But what if she hates me for it?" Blake asked. "Weiss and I are going to be on a team together for a long time. I don't want to risk ruining things, especially since she only just started warming up to everyone."

"I think you're overthinking this a little. Even if she's as opposed to it as you think she will be, things will go back to normal eventually."

Blake sighed, "Eventually is a long time. What if-?"

"Blake," Pyrrha sternly interrupted. "Listen to me. As much as you don't want to admit it, you'll have to tell to her about how you feel sooner or later, and the sooner the better. I want you to go talk with her after we're done here, alright? You don't have to put everything on the table yet if you're not ready, but at least try to test the water, gauge her reaction. Then, if all goes well, tell her. Nothing bad will happen, I promise."

Blake gave a small but noticeable smile, the first any of her friends had seen from her in weeks, "Thanks, I will. Maybe-"

She was cut short by a loud thud, and turned her head to see Ruby standing over Jaune, who had clearly lost their match. Pyrrha smiled at him and stood up to go help him to his feet. "Not bad, not bad. You're definitely improving, that's for sure."

' _I think she should really take her own advice,_ ' Blake thought with a smile of her own. ' _I think Jaune's the only one in the whole school who doesn't know you like him. Anyway, talking to Weiss... I don't even know how to have that conversation... Or even what to lead with for that matter. I guess I should start with whether or not she's straight... That should be fun to start a conversation with. Hey Weiss, how's it going? Ever slept with a girl before? Gah! Maybe I can have someone else ask for me... No, that's dumb. I have to do it myself. I'll see if I can get a few minutes alone with her tonight. Here's hoping all goes well..._ '

"Blake, are you even listening?" Ruby asked impatiently, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, um... No, sorry, what were you saying?"

Ruby sighed and crossed her arms, "I asked if you and Pyrrha wanted another quick match together before we head back inside."

"No, that's alright. I'm about ready to head back anyway," Blake replied. The gang returned to the dorms, and Blake immediately crawled into her bed after getting back to the room. She wasn't particularly tired, but she wanted some time to just lay there and think about what she planned on saying to Weiss, and how exactly to say it more than anything. She had her book open to make it look like she was reading, as well as to stop the flow of questions coming in from her teammates about how she could lay there doing nothing all afternoon. Yang had returned from the library already, saying she'd gotten bored, which gave Blake the idea of going and talking to Weiss now. The library would be a nice, quiet place they could talk in private, it seemed perfect.

"I'll be back. I'm going to check out a new book in the library," Blake said after long while, finally getting out of her bed.

Ruby looked over, confused, "Really? Didn't you just get that one last night?"

"Yeah, but um... it's not as good as I thought it would be."

"If you're sure," Ruby shrugged. "Hey, maybe while you're there your can ask Weiss for some study help. I saw you didn't do too well in some of your finals last semester."

"I suppose that couldn't hurt," Blake said as she started toward the door. "I'll see you guys later."

"Alright, have fun!" Yang called out as Blake closed the door behind her.

' _I really hope I will,_ ' Blake thought as she started the walk across campus. It was a beautiful day out, which gave her a bit of a boost as she rounded the corner and entered the library. ' _Okay, if I were Weiss, where would I be?_ '

Her search didn't take long, and she found Weiss sitting alone at a rather secluded table near the back of the east wing. She took a deep breath and started to walk over. She hadn't had one on one time with Weiss after the team had found out about her being a Faunus, and while Weiss had seemed to be alright with it after the incident at the docks, Blake was still afraid there would be some awkwardness between them. With that in mind, she wanted to act as well behaved as possible to keep Weiss in a good mood. After all, the subject she was about to delve into could have some pretty nasty consequences if things didn't go according to plan, or weren't handled with the appropriate care.

"Hey, Weiss," Blake warmly greeted her before taking a seat at the table. "How's studying going?"

"Um... alright I guess?" Weiss replied with a quizzical expression. "You seem rather... happy. Not that that's a bad thing, but you've been acting very moody lately."

Blake shrugged, "Well, it's hard to stay that way when it's such a nice day out. But anyway, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind going over some stuff from last semester with me?"

Weiss' surprise only grew, "Really? You're coming to me for help?"

"Well... yeah," Blake said shyly. "You're the smartest person I know."

"Oh, well... thank you. I suppose I can lend a hand. What class are you reviewing for?"

"Professor Oobleck's."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Maybe if you didn't spend every class doodling in your notebook you'd know more about what's going on."

Blake ignored the comment and got straight into reviewing the material. In truth, she had struggled a lot with Oobleck's class, so getting a little extra help now was actually needed. After about fifteen minutes though she was starting to get a little restless, and decided to take Pyrrha's advice and test the waters. She let Weiss get back to her own study material for a few minutes to build up an awkward silence that she was more than happy to break when she felt that enough time had passed.

"So Weiss, any guys grabbing your attention lately?" she asked, taking Weiss by surprise.

"I beg your pardon?" the heiress asked. "What brought that up?"

Blake shrugged, "I dunno, just girl talk. We never really hang out, so I figured why not? So, any special guys? Or girls?"

"Excuse me? What do you mean girls?"

"I mean exactly that. I didn't want to assume anything, just in case."

"Oh," Weiss replied, giving her a somewhat sceptical look. "Well, if you must know, I don't have time to worry about things like relationships right now. School is simply too important to lose focus on, especially with classes starting up so soon."

' _Well... I guess that's not a no on liking girls... Maybe she's not interested in relationships now, but that would mean I could have a shot once the semester gets underway and calms down_.'

"Fair enough, I suppose," Blake replied. "Although you can't spend every waking moment studying, as much as I'm sure you'd like to. So... just out of curiosity, you never said no to being into girls."

Weiss shot her a glare, "Of course I'm not into girls! That's just... wrong!"

Blake's face instantly fell, and she felt a darkness rushing through her body at the heiress' outburst. It had been the response she'd expected from the start, and even though she'd tried to prepare herself for it, it still hurt more than she imagined it would. The sheer revulsion to the idea was also equally as painful.

"Oh, alright..." she said quietly, looking down at the table. "I didn't know you felt that way about it..."

"Wait, are you...?" Weiss asked, and Blake nodded. "Oh, I um... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine," Blake interrupted, quickly standing up. "I'll let you get back to studying. Sorry to disturb you."

Weiss frowned, already wishing she could take back what she'd said, "Wait, I didn't mean it like that!" Blake didn't stay to hear what Weiss said next. She took off running, and didn't stop until she reached reached the campus gardens. She sat down on a bench behind the cover of a few pine trees and started to cry. In the far back of her mind there was a small relief in the fact that Weiss' comment about her sexual preference is what looked to have triggered this episode, but that was of little comfort right now.

' _I can't... I... Fuck! In two sentences she crushed any idea of us ever getting together. Shattered it like a fucking pane of glass... I guess that's why we call her the ice queen... Damn it, why did I listen to Pyrrha? I don't feel like I have closure, I feel... hopeless..._ '

"Blake?" a small voice said off to her right, making her jump. She turned with watery eyes to see Weiss walking over to her. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't know. Are you alright?"

Blake nodded and wiped her eyes as Weiss sat down beside her, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, everyone's entitled to their opinion."

"Blake, I'm sorry," Weiss said sincerely, shifting awkwardly in her seat. "I have nothing against people who are homosexual, it's just... sometimes I say things I don't mean. My family is very conservative with their views on issues like this, it's just the way I was raised. It's the same reason I acted they way I did when we found out you were a Faunus. I'm sorry, I truly am. I didn't mean to offend you."

' _Wow, it would take something like this to actually get any emotions out of her. I can't be mad at her though, it's not her fault. And this is probably the only apology I'll ever get from her, so I may as well take it._ '

Blake smiled weakly, "No hard feelings." She opened her arms for a hug, and was surprised when Weiss willingly came in to give her one. She a sighed with content as she savoured the moment, then took a deep breath through her nose and smiled at the smell of the heiress' vanilla scented shampoo. "Sorry I ran out like that. You're a good friend, and I shouldn't have overreacted. Anyway, I think I should head back to the room now. I'm guessing you want to get back to studying?"

Weiss shrugged, "Actually, I think I'm alright for now. Do you mind if I walk back with you?"

"Not at all," Blake replied as the two stood up and began their walk back to the dorm.

' _Okay, I guess it didn't turn out as badly as I thought it would. I think I might actually have that closure Pyrrha was talking about. Maybe I can actually start to get over her now. I wish I didn't have to... but... I guess some things just aren't meant to be._ '

 **Boy, if Blake gave up that easily I'd make this would be a much shorter story. Be sure to leave a review if you've got something you'd like to share, and I'll see you all next chapter!**


	2. Now it's a Party

Chapter 2: Now it's a Party

Weiss and Blake returned to the room, and Blake immediately got back into bed to continue reading. It was clear she was still upset, but luckily for her, Weiss didn't know the real reason. Unknown to her though was how bad Weiss actually felt about seeming to be the cause of it.

' _Damn it, why do I keep doing this?_ ' the heiress angrily thought. ' _I come off as such a huge bigot all the time, is that really who I am? I don't have a problem with homosexuals... At least I don't think I do, I can't say I've ever been friends with one before Blake. Well, that is if Blake really still thinks of me as a friend. After the way I reacted to her being a Faunus, and now this, I don't think my apologies are enough. I need a better way to make things right with her..._ '

The girls went to the dining hall with team JNPR not long after Weiss and Blake got back, and it seemed that team RWBY had two distracted members now. Blake seemed very detached, which everyone assumed was because of what happened at the docks. Weiss was constantly zoned out as well, deep in thought about something. Naturally her friends asked what was wrong, but she played it off as just feeling ill. It wasn't completely a lie, she did feel a little sick to her stomach, but because of a new string of thoughts swirling around in her head.

She'd been preoccupied with what to do for Blake until then, but while thinking over the conversation they'd had in the library, a question she'd been asked brought on more thought than she expected. It seemed like a harmless curiosity at first, but the more she rolled it over in her head, the more she realised it was more than that. Blake had unintentionally, and unknowingly, planted a seed that might end up bringing her dream to a reality after all.

' _No, there's no way... I can't possibly like another girl... can I?_ ' Weiss thought, beyond confused about herself. ' _I've always liked boys... At least I think so... I've never been in a relationship before, but I've always seen guys as attractive. Not girls._ '

The more she tried to deny it, the more she began to notice subtle things she hadn't seen before. A strange feeling from seeing another girl in a cute outfit that she had always thought was just a twinge of envy now seemed like it may have been something else. ' _No, no, this is ridiculous. When I look around this cafeteria I can clearly tell what guys I'm attracted to, and I don't have that same sense when looking at other girls._ '

Sure enough, she had no problem picking out the boys she thought were cute. However, there were definitely a few girls that caught her eye in a way she hadn't expected. Being able to tell who looked pretty in an outfit was nothing new, but there were a couple girls who gave her the same reaction she had to the other guys. A cute facial feature, a pretty smile, they seemed a lot more noticeable and appealing, and the heiress gasped as she realised she actually felt attracted to them.

' _No no no no, this is bad, this is very bad. I can't be... I can't! My parents will kill me! Okay, maybe not that extreme, but they would definitely throw me out..._ '

"Weiss? Are you sure you're alright?" Ruby asked, sounding more worried than she had before. "You look like you're about to cry."

Weiss snapped out of her thoughts and looked around at the concerned faces of her friends and teammates. She blinked a few times before putting on her usual, neutral face, not having realised how much her inner thoughts were being reflected outward. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine," she said with a level voice.

Ruby's look of concern only deepened, "Okay, if you're sure... Promise that you'll tell me if there's someone wrong?"

"Fine, I promise," Weiss replied, crossing her arms and pretending to be irritated from the constant questions.

' _I shouldn't lie to her, but I'm not about to talk about this here. Maybe once I get everything back to normal I'll tell her about it, but that can wait until we're in private and I'm no longer confused enough to think I like girls._ '

After dinner the two teams split up, but more by their members than by team. Ruby went with team JNPR back to their room to take Ren's spot in a game of Remnant. Ren had decided to go with Blake to the library, both of them preferring to have a quiet evening to read without distractions. That left Yang and Weiss by themselves in their dorm, at least until it was time for Yang to go to her party. Weiss went right to her desk and got out her study materials before Yang had even reached the centre of the room. Studying seemed like a good way to get her head back to where it needed to be, but she quickly found it impossible to concentrate with everything else on her mind. That didn't stop her from trying, but she didn't make a lot of progress.

"Weiss, is everything really okay?" Yang asked after a while, noticing that Weiss hadn't moved at all in quite some time.

The heiress' eyes stayed fixed on her notes for another few seconds before she registered that someone was talking to her. "What?" she finally asked, turning to Yang with a dazed expression after from being pulled from thoughts. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

She turned her attention back to her papers, but Yang wasn't exactly convinced from her response. The blonde hoped down from her bunk and walked over the desk, pausing once she reached the heiress' side. Weiss didn't seem to notice her coming over, and Yang could tell the she wasn't actually reading anything. Weiss' gaze was aimed past her notes, and from the sort of glazed look in her eyes, Yang could tell she was thinking hard about something. The heiress' expression slowly began to fall from whatever she was thinking, and Yang needed to know why. With a devious grin, she grabbed the edge of large, open book and slammed it shut, making Weiss jump about a foot in the air at the unexpected sound.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" the heiress angrily asked, standing up from her chair. "I'm trying to review for next semester."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Bullshit. You were completely zoned out. Talk to me, because I'm not buying that nothing's bothering you. You've been acting distracted ever since you got back from the library. It's not like you. Now tell me, what's the matter?"

"I-I... I don't really want to talk about it, okay?" Weiss replied, not feeling up to lying about it.

"Why not?"

The heiress sighed, "It's... personal. And really confusing, and... It's hard to explain. It's something I need to figure out on my own."

"I somehow doubt that," Yang said as she pulled another chair over and sat down. "You know your team is always here for you no matter what. Whatever's wrong, we can work through it together. You don't have to do everything on your own anymore."

"I really wish you could help, but I need to think this over on my own," Weiss said, although her tone didn't reflect the confidence of her words. "Just trust me on that, okay?"

Yang was hesitant to just drop the subject, but it was clear that she wouldn't make any headway if she continued to pry like this. "If you're sure," she said a little dejectedly before standing up and putting her chair back. She went to jump back into bed, but then an idea crossed her mind. "Hey Weiss, wanna come with me to the party tonight? I know it's not really your thing, but I've been talking with Ruby, and we think it'd be good for you to step out of your comfort zone once in a while. And hey, maybe it'll help take your mind off whatever's bothering you."

' _Oh my God, why can't she just leave me alone? Can't she see I'm busy studying... Oh who am I kidding, I'm not in the right mindset to study. I suppose it couldn't hurt to try and forget this whole Blake and liking girls thing for a while... But a party? With Yang? That sounds like an absolute recipe for disaster!_ '

Weiss sighed, "Look, I admit I'm not always the most... flexible, but I really don't think that going to a party is a good idea. Besides, I-"

"Oh come on," Yang interrupted, not in the mood to listen to more of Weiss' excuses. "It's not like I'm saying you have to do a keg stand, which there won't be. I'm just asking you to come and hang out with me. You don't have to drink, you don't even have to talk to anyone else, but you really do need to take a break from school and just chill."

Weiss went to give a quick comeback, but hesitated. ' _Well... I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to go. I'm sure it'd take my mind off of all this. But she'd better keep her word._ '

"Alright, fine," Weiss finally replied. "I'll go to the party, but you'd better not be lying."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Don't sound too excited. Okay, let's get ready to go then. Party starts at eight, so we'll leave a little after so we're not the first ones there. I know that'd make you uncomfortable."

"This whole thing makes me uncomfortable," Weiss pointed out, but Yang ignored the comment. The heiress walked over to the dresser and started to look through her more casual outfits, assuming that they would be the most appropriate to wear. Her eyes fell on a cute, blue, low-cut t-shirt, but she wasn't sure if it was too revealing for her to wear out to a party. "Hey, what do you think I should wear?"

Yang shrugged, "I dunno, whatever you want. You'll be fine in your usual outfit, and it'll probably keep guys from coming up and hitting on you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that wearing a really conservative combat skirt and blouse sends a pretty clear signal that you're not interested," Yang replied with a laugh. "Don't worry, the boys will probably be lining up for me anyway."

Weiss glared across the room, "What, you don't think I could attract a good-looking guy?" There was a little more of a bite in her tone from her current inner conflicted, but since she was usually this easy to get angry, Yang didn't notice the difference.

"Are you saying you want to?" the blonde asked with an amused smile. "Cuz if you do, then that blue tee, your black miniskirt, and your taller heels are the way to go."

"Oh shut up," Weiss shot back. It was strange to her, but she didn't actually feel as irritated as she seemed to be. She was somewhat enjoying the sort of friendly banter with Yang, something she knew she wouldn't have a few months ago. "Alright, I guess I'll go in what I've got on. Is there anything else I should do to get ready?"

"Um... Nope, I think you're good. Let's see, it's just after eight, so we should probably get going. Anything you need before we head out?"

"Besides a place to hide so I don't have to go?" Weiss joked, getting a chuckle from Yang.

"Be honest, you're actually really happy I asked you to come. I know you are."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "No, I really don't want to go. I'd be much happier staying in for the night. But, if the team insists that I go, I'll go."

"At least we got you to agree," Yang replied, taking a quick pause after seeing herself in the mirror to fix her eyeliner. "You wouldn't have even considered going last semester."

"Yes, that's because the old Weiss had a better sense of judgment. You can thank your sister for slowly wearing that down."

Yang gave a smug smile, "You're welcome. Alright, let's go!" She led Weiss on short walk to the student apartments on the west side of campus. There were a lot of people out walking tonight, and Weiss assumed they too were headed to parties based on their outfits. The two went into one of the busier buildings and up a flight of stairs before Yang found the room they were looking for. She knocked and, after a few words in right tone of voice to the boy who answered, they were let in.

Right from the start, Weiss could tell she was as far out of her element as she could be. The music was ear-shatteringly loud, the crowd composed of the exact kind of people she tried to avoid, and everyone had some unknown concoction of alcohol in a red solo cup in hand. Her first instinct was to just turn around and walk away now, but she knew Yang wouldn't let her. She was already here, and she decided to try to make the best of it. She made a bee line for a set of open chairs on the far side of the room, and Yang walked over to join her after a quick flirt with the boy at the door.

"Whatdya think?" the blonde asked after she surveyed the room.

"I think I can feel my brain cells dying with every passing second," the heiress begrudgingly replied. "You seriously think this is fun?"

Yang grinned, "It is when I'm not sober, but I'll make an exception and not drink too much tonight. Speaking of drinks though, I'm gonna go get one. You want anything?"

"Is there anything without alcohol?" Weiss asked, although she had a pretty good idea of what the answer would be.

"I dunno, I'll check," Yang said with a shrug before wading through the crowd to reach the kitchen. She returned a minute later with two solo cups and set the one in the front of Weiss. "Here, I got you a Vacuo iced tea."

The heiress picked up the plastic cup with a sceptical look and gave it a sniff. ' _Huh, it actually doesn't smell like alcohol._ '

She took a cautious sip, then another before finally taking a full swig of it, still not tasting anything that would send up a red flag. "This is actually pretty good. What's in it?"

Yang shrugged again, "I forget what all goes into it."

"Okay... So what are you drinking?"

"Vodka and cranberry juice. Want some?"

"No!" Weiss said in an instant, acting as if the the drink even touching her lips would kill her. "I told you I don't want any alcohol. Unlike you, I have a reputation to uphold."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, princess. So what's new? I feel like we never really just talk."

' _Quite a lot is new, actually,_ ' Weiss thought, laughing in her head at her own humour. ' _Maybe I can talk to her about this. She is Blake's partner after all. I'm sure she'd know a way that I can cheer her up, or at least help me find a good way to apologise for the way I've been acting lately. As for the other thing, relationships do seem to be her specialty. Well, more hookups than actual relationships I guess, but I'd assume the two are fairly similar. I suppose I'll try to ease into the subject, see what happens. I think I'll take all the advice I can get right now._ '

"Nothing much," Weiss nonchalantly replied, taking another big gulp from her cup. She was surprised at how much she enjoyed it, and wondered how she'd never heard of the drink before. "Mostly just getting ready for next semester. What about yourself?"

"Umm... Not too much I guess. There's this new guy I've been seeing lately, but that's all I can think of."

"That doesn't count," Weiss smirked. "You're with a different guy every week. The newness would be if you didn't move on to the next one after you got tired of sleeping with the first."

Yang stuck out her tongue, "You guys keep making me out to be the biggest slut on campus. I'm not saying I don't get around, but it's not like I'm banging a different guy every night, or even every week for that matter."

The hint of anger in the blonde's tone made Weiss start to sink down in her chair. "Sorry," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to offend you, I was just joking around."

Yang's face immediately softened from the apology. Not just because she could see that it was sincere, but also because it was one of the few times she'd seen a genuine emotional response from Weiss to someone else. "Okay, really, you need to tell me what's going on," she said sternly. "I've known you for a couple months now, and I've never seen you give an apology I'd believed you meant. Whatever's bothering you is obviously something big, can you please tell me what it is? I promise I can help."

Weiss shook her head, "It's... complicated. I don't know if I'm ready to talk about it yet. Can we change the subject, please?"

Yang wanted to press more, but hesitated. She'd never seen Weiss like this, and she didn't want to make things any worse than they clearly already were. With a comforting smile, she reached over and gave the heiress a gentle pat on the back, "If you're sure. Just know that I'm always happy to help if you need someone to talk to. Let's see, new subject... Umm... Read any good books lately?"

Weiss smiled weakly, "I think that's a better question for Blake. I don't think a day's gone by where she hasn't finished a new book. But no, I haven't. I don't do a lot of reading outside of textbooks. Although the book Professor Port is using for his class this semester is pretty fascinating. There are a lot of interesting theories and insights about Grimm behaviour and-"

"Boooring," Yang interrupted, grinning at the annoyed look she was getting from Weiss. "Oh lighten up. Not everyone shares your obsession with school. It'd do you some good to get out more."

"Isn't that the point of you dragging me here?" the heiress asked, partly as a sarcastic response but also out of curiosity.

Yang shrugged, "Well, yeah, but going to one party with me isn't gonna suddenly turn you into a social butterfly, which I doubt would ever happen anyway. You really do need to work on your social skills. We could give it a try here if you'd like."

"Okay... Go on," Weiss sceptically replied.

"I dunno, wanna just walk around and talk to people? Make some new friends, maybe pick up a cute guy, never know." Weiss' face fell slightly at the suggestion, leaving Yang wondering what she'd said wrong. She noticed the reaction only came after mentioning picking up guys, and made a connection in her head. "That's what's bothering you, isn't it? Something about a boy?"

' _There's just no escaping this, is there?_ ' the heiress thought sadly. ' _Alright, I may as well just get everything out there._ '

Weiss sighed, "Yes and no. It's a couple of things."

"Well, let's just go down the list then, if you're ready to talk about it," Yang suggested, being sure to give an out to the conversation.

"I... Alright," Weiss said reluctantly. "I guess the first thing is Blake."

"Blake? What about Blake? This isn't still about her being a Faunus, is it?"

Weiss shook her head, "No, not at all. When we were in the library earlier, she asked me if there any guys I'm interested in, which was a bit odd, but then she added in if there were any girls I liked. I didn't exactly react well to the whole girls part, and I really upset her. I didn't know that she was a lesbian. I apologised, but after the way I acted after finding out that she's a Faunus, I think I might've actually hurt her. I'm almost positive she hates me now and I don't know what to do to show her that I'm not the hateful bigot I keep making myself out to be."

"I don't think she hates you," Yang began after a moment of thought. "I doubt that she sees you as a best friend either, but hating you seems like a little much. How did she react when you apologised?"

Weiss shrugged, "She said there were no hard feelings, gave me a hug, and said that I'm good friend. I know that sounds like everything's fine, but there was this... I don't know how to describe it, but it felt there was something she wasn't telling me."

"I don't think Blake is the kind of person to keep secrets," Yang replied, then stopped to laugh at what she'd said. "Well, about stuff like this anyway, she's usually pretty upfront about her feelings towards other people. If she were really upset with you, you'd know it. If she said you're a good friend, then I'm sure she meant it."

"I guess..." Weiss said quietly, hoping that Yang was right. "I still think I need a better way to apologise for all this. Can you think of anything?"

"If you want to give a good apology, it should come from you, not me. But, if I were you, I'd take her out somewhere nice for an afternoon. Hang out, have fun, just act like a couple of friends."

Weiss thought it over for a moment before nodding, "That sounds good. Maybe we could go shopping, let her buy some nice stuff on me."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Nope, try again. Blake's not gonna be won over by being bought a bunch of expensive crap, especially when it comes from someone with more money than... well... anyone. Do something more personal, or just ask if there's somewhere she'd like to go."

"I can do that," Weiss said with a smile before finishing her drink. "Hey, mind if I ask you for a refill?"

"Wow, you're done with that already?" Yang asked wide eyes.

The heiress shrugged, "Yeah, it was pretty good. Why?"

"Um, no reason really. I'll get you another. Be right back." Yang got up and once again braved the crowd, giving Weiss a moment to think over their conversation.

' _Alright, I think talking to her was the right call, at least about Blake. She was really understanding, and helpful, so I think I can trust her with my other problem. I don't know if she'll be able to give as much advice, but we'll have to see.'_

While waiting for Yang to return, Weiss started to feel a little off. She felt a little dizzy, her head was a little fuzzy, but for some reason she had a warm feeling emanating from deep inside her. ' _That's really weird... Maybe I'm coming down with something. Wouldn't surprise me with how many people are here. I can't imagine this place is sanitary by any standard. I swear, if I'm sick for the start of the semester because of Yang, I will be furious!_ '

The brawler returned with Weiss' refill shortly after, and the heiress gladly took a few sips before setting it down. "You might wanna slow down," Yang commented, forgetting that she hadn't said anything about the contents of the drink.

Weiss gave her a puzzled look, "What? Why?"

"Oh, uh... There's probably a lot of sugar in that. Wouldn't want you up all night," Yang replied, pleased with her save. But, she still needed to quickly change the subject to keep Weiss from getting suspicious. "Anyway, onto the next item on your list of what's bothering you."

Weiss was quiet for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. "Alright... But this stays between us, alright?" she asked nervously, receiving a nod. "Okay... Well, the other thing that's bothering me is... something Blake said while we were in the library."

Yang looked confused, "I thought that was what we just talked about?"

Weiss shook her head, "Yeah, well... there's more to it. I guess I should start by saying that I was raised in a really, really conservative house. Homosexuality was not a topic we ever openly talked about except for when my parents would make a comment about something in the news."

"Okay... What does that have to do with anything?" Yang asked, still not entirely sure where the heiress was leading into.

"Well, it never really occurred to me that I could be... you know..." Weiss continued. Her cheeks started to turn red as she spoke, her foot started tapping nervously, and her gaze turned down to the floor. "After she said that, it starting dawning on me that I... I might actually like girls... I'm just so confused, and scared, and... and... I don't know, I don't know what to do..." Yang didn't respond right away, making Weiss look up to see how her teammate was reacting. To her surprise, Yang was wearing a huge smile. Not that she had expected a particularly bad reaction, but she certainly hadn't expected this. "Yang? Why are you smiling?"

"Because I'm so happy for you!" the blonde exclaimed, leaning over and wrapping Weiss in a bear hug. "Coming out takes a lot of courage, and I'm glad you found who you really are! You've changed a lot since I meet you, and it's always been for the better. I know this'll be a good thing for you."

"No, no, this is NOT a good thing!" Weiss yelled. "I mean, I guess it is good to know what I really like, but I can't be a lesbian! I can't! My parents are going to disown me if they find out!"

"Oh come on, don't be so-"

"I'm not kidding!" Weiss interrupted with a look of absolute panic. "They really will disown me... My father will do anything to preserve the 'purity' of our family, and the company. He's fired major executives and cut ties with partners he's had for years when they came out... I can't imagine how he'll react when he finds out his own daughter is... is..."

' _Come on, don't do this here,_ ' Weiss thought, doing her best to hold herself together. Her attempt failed and she burst into tears, taking Yang by surprise since she'd never seen this kind of emotion from Weiss before.

Yang pulled her in close, letting the heiress rest her head on her shoulder. "Shh, shh, it's alright," Yang whispered, gently stroking Weiss' hair. "I'm here for you. You're whole team is. Nothing bad is gonna happen, I promise. Just don't tell your family yet. There's no need for them to know."

"B-But... but..." Weiss' muffled voice came between sobs. She lifted her head and sat back, wiping her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself down. "What if there's a girl I really like? What am I supposed to do? No, what am I even saying, this is stupid. I don't know for sure I do like girls, or that I don't like boys. I need to be absolutely sure before I let this go any further."

"Well, there's an easy way to find out," Yang smiled. "Ask someone on a date, boy or girl. If you think you like them going in, then you'll have your answer by the time your date is over. You know, there's a school dance coming up not long after classes start up again. Maybe you could ask someone."

"I thought it was the guy's job to ask me?" Weiss replied. "And besides, I couldn't take a girl as my date. It's way too public, and my father would find out somehow. I just know it."

Yang shrugged, "Then ask a guy. How about that blue-haired boy Sun brought to lunch? I don't think you took your eyes off him until we left. What was his name again?"

"Neptune," Weiss quickly answered, then blushed from how eager she'd sounded.

Yang grinned, "I think that answers whether or not you like him, or at least think you do. Ask him, see what happens. Either way, you'll have the answer you're looking for by the end of the night."

"I guess that sounds alright," the heiress said after taking a moment to think about it. "This is all just so confusing... All I wanna do is-"

' _Wait, did I just say wanna? I never say wanna, my grammar is... Um... What's the word? Impervious? No, no... Impeccable, that's it. Hang on, why don't I know that right away? And why do I feel so light headed, and...? Oh no... No, she wouldn't have, would she? But... it doesn't even taste like alcohol!_ '

"Yang, what did you say is in this drink...?" Weiss asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Yang gave her a confused look, trying to pretend she didn't know why the question had come up. "I told you, I don't remember everything that-"

"What DO you remember is in it?" Weiss interrupted, asking the question she realised she should've asked when the drink had first been handed to her. "There's alcohol in this, isn't there?"

Yang sighed, "Alright, yes... It's pretty much all booze. Vodka, rum, gin, tequila... I think there's lemon juice, maybe some triple sec?"

The blonde's rambling was clearly an attempt to distract Weiss and hopefully quell her anger a little bit. It didn't work, and the heiress looked as though she were about to shoot fire from her eyes. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?"

"Because I needed to get you to talk to me about what was wrong," Yang replied with a level expression. "I admit it probably wasn't the best way to do it, but it worked. You've gotten everything out, and we can help you now. Don't you feel better having talked about it?"

"I... Well... I guess," Weiss admitted, although she wasn't happy to. "But next time wait until I'm ready, okay? I'd rather you just bug the hell outta me than get me drunk."

Yang smiled, "Can do. Now come on, let's have some fun!"

The rest of the night was a quick blur in Weiss' head. She could remember bits of broken conversations with Yang, although not what they were about. She remembered going with Yang to talk to a pair of cute guys, but the more she thought about it, the more she saw that they weren't as cute as she had originally thought. What she didn't remember at all was how much she'd had to drink, how she'd gotten back to the dorm, or at what time. All she knew was that the next morning came more abruptly than anticipated from a bright light shining in her eyes. Everything also seemed far louder than usual.

' _Wh... Wha...?_ ' she thought in a daze as she started to wake up. Her head was pounding, the sun seemed to be blinding her through the curtains, and above all else, she felt like she needed to throw up. Although, judging by the taste in her mouth, she assumed she already had. ' _What... What happened? Where...? How'd I get back to the dorm? Holy shit, I feel like I'm going to die..._ '

She rolled over to get the sun out of her eyes, and heard a little chuckle from the other side of the room. "Good morning, sleepyhead," Blake said with a very amused voice, almost taunting her hungover teammate. "I take it someone had a pretty good time with Yang last night?"

"Don't even start with me," the heiress groaned. Her nausea only got worse from talking, forcing her to curl up tighter and take slow, deep breaths to keep everything down. There was a metallic thud on the other side of the bed that sounded like a gong to her, and she rolled back over to see what had happened. She found Blake standing beside the bed, and the trash can had been moved over to be in line with her head.

"Just in case you need it," the Faunus girl side with a smile. "Anything else I can get you? A glass of water? Maybe some ginger ale?"

' _Wait, what? Why is she being so nice to me? After the way I acted yesterday..._ '

"Y-Yeah, ginger ale sounds great," Weiss replied with an obvious look of confusion.

Blake just continued to smile, "Coming right up." She disappeared into the hallway, leaving Weiss utterly dumbfounded as to why she was being so helpful.

' _I can't believe she isn't more upset at me... I really need to do something nice for her, especially with the way I've been acting. Anyway, back to last night... What do I remember happening? Yang and I talked about Blake, and about my whole liking girls thing... Wait a minute, that's it! Blake can help me! I'm sure she went through this same thing at some point when she came out, maybe she can help me with it. I feel bad about asking her for help with how big of a jerk I've been lately, but I'll make it up to her somehow._ '

 **Hi guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry this one took so long, I promise you won't have to wait this long again. (: Be sure to follow and review, and check out my page if you wanna help support me. I'll get to writing chapter 3, and I'll see y'all when it's done!**

 **Thank you so much to my OG sponsor:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **You're the best**


	3. A Girls Day Out

**I really need to get on a better schedule for writing these. :P I promise it won't be two weeks before I release the next chapter, and this time I actually mean it. Anyway, I won't keep** **you** **guys** **waiting any longer. Enjoy!**

Chapter 3: A Girls Day Out

Weiss spent the rest of the morning in Blake's care. Thanks to her aura the hangover didn't last too long, and she was back normal around ten o'clock. She still didn't know why Blake was being so nice and helpful, which only made her feel like making up was that much more important. She was left alone for a few minutes when Blake left to return some things to team JNPR's room. Ruby and Yang were out somewhere for the morning, although she didn't know where. She was also astounded that Yang wasn't hungover as well, but then again she didn't really remember how much the blonde had to drink.

' _Well, I'm feeling a lot better than earlier. Maybe I could take Yang's advice and have a day out today,_ ' Weiss thought while she waited for her teammate to return. ' _I don't think we have anything planned today. Let's see what she says._ ' She sat on her bed thinking of things for them to do, but couldn't come up with much. After a few minutes she heard the doorknob turn, and decided to leave it up to Blake.

"Hey, do you have any plans today?" She asked once Blake was back in the room. "If not, I was wondering if you'd like to head into the city, have a sort of friends day out?"

Blake cocked her head to the side in confusion, not having expected anything like that from Weiss. "I, uh..." she began, not sure how to respond. It was a nice gesture, but she was afraid of how her feelings would affect how she acted. "That sounds like fun, but I don't know if I'm feeling up to it today."

"Are you sure? You've been acting fine all morning. Look, I know we've been on bad footing lately, and I just want to make it up to you. Let's go out, have a nice day together, act like friends. What do you say?"

Blake hesitated once again, but she couldn't think of a good reason to say no. "Well... I guess it could be fun. What did you have in mind for us to do?"

Weiss shrugged, "Whatever you want. It's your day."

"Oh... Um... Alright, if you're sure."

"Great! Let me know when you're ready to go, I'll text Ruby and let her know where we went."

They were out the door in minutes, and Blake wasn't sure what to expect from today. She anticipated a lot of painful conversations and, above all else, hoped that she would be able to keep her feelings under control. They didn't say much on the way to the airship, and they both seemed to notice the awkwardness between them. Of course, each one thought it came for a totally different reason. They boarded the flight and still didn't say much until they landed. It wasn't until after they disembarked that Weiss started the first real conversation since they left the room.

"Well, we're here," Weiss said after they'd step out of the airport. "Have you figured out what you want to do yet?"

Blake still hadn't come up with a full to-do list, but by now her ideas had been mostly filtered down to things that wouldn't come across as weird for friends. She shrugged, "I guess we could start with lunch. Anywhere you'd suggest?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Seriously? I tell you we can do whatever you want for the afternoon and you still want me to pick?"

' _If you keep saying we can do anything I want, I might take you up on it,_ ' Blake thought, making her smile. "I'm not the best at making decisions," she said before taking an exploratory look around. A few shops caught her eye, but with how hungry she was, they would have to wait until after she'd eaten. "How about that sub sandwich place on Sunset Avenue? The one with the big avocado tree in the median outside."

"See? You can make decisions," Weiss replied, getting an amused look in return. "What, I can't make a joke? It's a friend's day out, let's at least act like we like each other."

' _If only you knew,_ ' Blake thought, bringing a bit of blush to her cheeks. "Alright, you have a point. I'm just not used to jokes coming from you, you're always so serious about everything."

Weiss crossed her arms, "I know I'm not always the most whimsical person out there, but you have to admit I'm not as bad as when we first met. The old Weiss was much more uptight."

"No argument there," Blake said with a grin, earning a scowl in return. "What? Friends joking around, remember? Come on, let's start walking, we'll have plenty of time to banter on the way over."

The walk wasn't actually that long, but it was a nice day out, so the two took their time. There wasn't a lot of conversation as they walked, mostly because Weiss still felt bad about the other day and didn't want to say the wrong thing, and Blake was afraid she would accidentally say something that would obviously come across as her flirting. Even so, Blake couldn't help her eyes from wandering over to Weiss as they went along, but luckily the heiress didn't seem to notice.

They arrived at the restaurant and got in line to make their subs. This place let them choose bread, meats, cheeses, and toppings instead of just ordering something off the menu, which Blake really enjoyed. Weiss insisted on paying for both of them, which Blake was adamantly against, but in the end she gave in and let her pay. They chose a booth by the window and sat down to eat, and Weiss stifled a laugh once she noticed what Blake had gotten.

"Is it racist if I point out that you put tuna on everything?" the heiress jokingly asked, hoping that Blake would also take it as a joke.

The Faunus girl smiled, "No, not at all. It's funny, tuna's one of only a few fish that I actually like." She went back to eating, but only moments later she too chuckled after taking a closer look at Weiss' order. "Is it rude if I point out that your sub is the exact opposite of your personality?"

Weiss gave her a quizzical before looking down at her sandwich, as if she'd forgotten what she'd put on it. Among the toppings were pepperjack cheese, jalapenos, crushed red pepper, and chipotle mayo. It took her a second to get the joke, but after she did she gasped and acted offended. "Blake, are you saying I'm not a fiery, hot-blooded individual?" she asked in the most sarcastic tone she could muster.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," Blake replied, still smiling. "I could see Yang ordering something like that, but I don't think she'd actually be able to eat it."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh please, it's not that hot. There's a bit of a kick, but that's all." Not believing her, Blake motioned to let her try a bite, and Weiss ripped off a piece from the half she hadn't started on yet to hand over. Blake had only chewed twice after popping it into her mouth before her eyes shot open, a few beads of sweat formed on her forehead, and her face turned bright red. Weiss started to laugh at how sensitive Blake was, but stopped after realising she'd forgotten something. "Uh oh... I forgot, I asked for that new Grimm pepper sauce on that half... You um... You want me to get you some milk or something?"

Blake couldn't speak with the inferno spreading through her mouth, all she could do was nod and do her best to keep calm while tears started to form in her eyes from the heat. Weiss jumped up and went to get her the drink while she discretely spit out the bite into a napkin. Weiss came back with a pint of milk which Blake grabbed and downed in a matter of seconds, pausing afterward to catch her breath. Her tongue was still on fire, but not as bad as before. She turned to Weiss, who looked absolutely mortified, and gave a small smile, "Just a bit of a kick, huh?"

The heiress sighed with relief to see that Blake was okay, and also not mad. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking that I-"

"Relax, it's alright," Blake interrupted, although immediately after she started coughing from the leftover spice. "Seriously though, how can you eat that?"

Weiss shrugged, "It's not that hot to me." She picked up the other half of her sub and took a bite, chewing and swallowing without the heat phasing her at all. She smirked, "Maybe I'm just so hot that it doesn't affect me."

Blake grinned, "Well, you are pretty hot, but I think I was on to something with your personality." Weiss gave her a weird look, and it took a second before what she'd said actually sank in. ' _Oh no, please tell me I did not just say that,_ ' she thought in horror.

"Umm... Thank you?" Weiss replied. "But I'm not that cold of a person, not all the time at least."

Blake blinked a few times before realising her comment had gone unnoticed. "Uh... Y-Yeah, I guess so," she stuttered, shaking her head to clear away the mixed signs of panic and relief on her face. "Sorry, the uh... the spice is messing with my head."

"Again, sorry about that," Weiss replied with a small frown, not doubting Blake's cover-up at all. "Want to get some ice cream or something after lunch? That'll probably help."

"Sounds great. And see? There's nothing wrong with you picking something that we do today."

Weiss just shook her head and went back to eating. While she claimed that she could handle the heat of her sandwich, Blake could swear she heard sizzling every time the heiress took a bite. Once they'd both finished they took to the street again, this time in search of ice cream. They went past a few shops, but Blake had decided on a small stand by the docks because she liked the owner. Weiss didn't really think it mattered, but went along without a complaint. The line was pretty short when they got there, only three people, so the wait was nice and quick. Blake went for two scoops of mint chocolate chip, while Weiss got a much more plain single scoop of vanilla.

"See, that seems much more fitting for you to order," Blake teased. "White, bland, you get the idea."

"Oh be quiet," Weiss shot back, then started to smile. "And let me guess, the real reason you choose this stand is because it has fish flavoured ice cream? That would explain why it's so close to the docks."

"No, that sounds absolutely disgusting. Besides, you can see what I got, you heard me order it."

"True, but you could've winked or something, ordered two scoops of tuna chocolate chip instead."

"Whatever you say. So how's your ice cream?" Blake asked once they were walking again. Weiss said something in return that was muffled by her having a full mouth, but it seemed to be a nod of approval. Blake was going to leave the conversion there, but then a devious grin started to crawl its way across her lips. "Or should I call it Weiss cream?"

The heiress stopped mid step and turned to Blake with a look somewhere between shocked and appalled. "Don't say that again. Ever," she said. Her tone wasn't quite as serious as her face, but either way Blake wasn't going to argue with her. "And since when do you make puns like that?"

"I don't know, maybe Yang's sense of humour is starting to rub off on me."

"Fantastic," Weiss groaned. "Just what our team needs. Anyway, we've gotten our ICE cream, so where would you like to go next? And no, I'm not going to help you decide."

"Alright, fine. Um... I guess we could go see a play, if that's something you'd enjoy too."

"Really? A play?" Weiss asked in surprise. "Actually, I guess it makes sense that you'd like live theatre over the movies with how much you read. That sounds fine, what play did you have in mind?"

Blake shrugged, "I don't know, we could stop by the local theatre and see if there's a good show playing soon. If not, we could just go to the movies."

"Alright, lead the way."

Blake nodded and led them down a few streets until they arrived at the playhouse. Instead of being mostly silent for the duration of the walk though, the two were engaged in conversation almost the entire time. Now that the initial weirdness had past for both of them, they had no trouble talking like a normal pair of friends, which felt great for them both.

They got to the theatre in time to get tickets for a show that was just about to start. Weiss didn't recognise the title, but Blake seemed enthusiastic about it, so she didn't object. Their seats were in far back of the room because of how close it was to starting, but neither girl complained. The play got underway quickly, and Weiss quickly discovered it was going to be a very long next two hours. Looking through the leaflet they were given on the way in, she also found that there wasn't an intermission, which meant she wouldn't get a break to stretch or walk around to stay awake.

About fifteen minutes in she was having trouble keeping her eyes open, and was constantly having to stop her head from tilting back as she nearly nodded off. She fought it as long as she could, but in the end her residual exhaustion from this morning caught up to her, and she fell asleep. A loud chorus of applause woke her some time later, and she opened her eyes to see the cast taking a bow.

' _Uh oh, I slept through the whole thing?' Weiss thought in shock. 'Maybe there's a way Blake didn't notice... No, not likely. I've got my head against a pillow and I'm sure she looked over to... Wait a minute, there aren't pillows here. What am I resting my head on...?_ '

She turned her eyes to look and nearly gasped when she saw that her head was laying on Blake's shoulder. She sat straight up in an instant and joined in clapping with the rest of the crowd, but it was far too late to try to blend in. "Good morning, again," Blake said with a small laugh.

"I-I so sorry about that. I didn't mean to fall asleep, I tried my best to stay awake. And I certainly didn't mean to use you as a pillow, I just-"

"Relax, relax," Blake interrupted, blushing a little and wearing a fairly wide smile. "It's alright, you're probably still tired from last night. I should've know you wouldn't be able to sit through a play like this, next time you can pick. That is if we ever do this again."

"Okay... Well, I'd certainly be up for having another day out together, although I'd probably choose a movie over than a play."

"Works for me. And hey, maybe next time I'll get to use you as a pillow."

Weiss smiled and shook her head at the comment, still a little embarrassed that she had done that. After the applause finally quieted down they left the theatre and started on their way back to Beacon. As they rounded the corner and started the long straightaway toward the airport, Weiss noticed that they were only a block away from the mall. She didn't particularly need anything, but it was still early enough in the afternoon that they could spend a little more time in the city, plus she target enjoyed shopping. "Hey, want to stop by the mall for a bit?" she asked.

Blake looked over and went to say yes, but hesitated, "I don't know, I don't really have a lot of extra spending money."

"Don't worry, it's all on me," Weiss replied with a smile.

"No, no, that's alright. You don't have to-"

"I insist," Weiss interrupted. "If you don't want to buy anything that's fine, but we've still got some time left before meeting everyone for dinner. I wouldn't mind walking around for a while, but this is your day, so we'll only go if you want to."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Alright, but I refuse to let you buy me anything."

Weiss smiled in triumph and led them into the mall. It was a massive building with easily over a hundred stores inside, and somehow Weiss seemed to know every inch of it. They passed a couple beauty and clothes stores and paused to window shop, neither girl really interested in what was inside. It wasn't until they passed a handbag store that Weiss decided to go inside. She didn't need a new purse, but she did want a closer look at one on display toward the back with a snowflake design on it.

Meanwhile, Blake gravitated to a black and white tiger striped bag on one of the centre display shelves. ' _This is actually pretty cute. I like the pattern, and it's a little bigger than my purse back at the room. A lot less beaten up too._ ' Optimistically, she turned it over to look at the price tag, and made a face once she saw the number.

Weiss saw the reaction and laughed, "Think you'll be buying that purse?"

"Not in this lifetime," the Faunus girl said a little sadly before putting the bag back on the display. "Oh well, I'm not really the type of girl to xarry around fancy, expensive things anyway."

"Again, if you want me to buy it for you, all you have to do is ask," Weiss reiterated.

"I told you, I didn't want you spending your money on me. Besides, that bag is really, really expensive."

Weiss gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes, "Blake, I'm a Schnee. I could literally buy you this mall if I wanted to, and I'd still have some allowance leftover to throw in a nice car. Now, do you want the bag or not?"

Blake sighed and went to say no, but couldn't. "I... Well... Alright, I owe you one."

"Nonsense, it's my treat. Come on, I'll get my card."

They went to the cashier and paid, and Blake couldn't help but smile at the way she looked with her new bag when they left the store. ' _Okay, maybe having one really nice thing isn't the end of the world,' she thought with a smile. 'I still feel a little guilty that I let her spend that much money on me. I know she doesn't care, but still..._ '

They came up to the food court and Weiss started eying up the soft pretzel stand. "I think I'm going to get something to hold me over till dinner, you want anything?" she asked.

Blake shook her head, "No, thanks. I'll go get us a table though." Weiss nodded and got in line, and Blake scouted around for the best open seats. There was a small table off to the side that wasn't in the way of people passing by, so naturally it seemed like a good pick. Weiss came and joined her after getting her pretzel, and for the first time since they got into the city it seemed like they were out of things to talk about. After few minutes Blake's thoughts started to wander, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Blake, be honest with me," Weiss said after a while a of quiet. "There's something else bothering you, isn't there?"

Blake did her best to keep a neutral face, "What makes you say that?"

"A couple things, actually. You still seem upset, even after we agreed that we'd go after Roman. You've been so happy this afternoon, I've seen you smile more today then I have since we met, but you're still as distracted as ever. Also, if there were nothing wrong, you would've just said no instead of avoiding the question."

' _Gah, damn it! Why can't I just be happy for a day?_ ' Blake thought, scolding herself. ' _Everything was going great, we were acting like friends, but I had to think about it going somewhere... I don't want to lie, but I can't tell her the truth..._ '

"Really, I'm fine," she replied. Her tone seemed convincing, but she made the crucial mistake of not making eye contact when she spoke.

Weiss narrowed her eyes, "Don't lie to me. There's something else you're not telling me, and I want to know what it is. You can't keep keeping secrets for us."

"You're not exactly one to talk," Blake shot back, starting to get a little defensive.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been just as distracted me the past couple days. Don't start preaching to me if you can't take your own advice." Her frustration was coming out in her voice, giving it a sharp bite that made Weiss shrink back in her seat. "Unless you're about to tell me everything that's on your mind, don't expect me to do the same."

The heiress sighed, "I... Well..."

"That's what I thought," Blake said coldly. She looked down at the table to compose herself, and when she looked back up she saw the glint of a tear in the corner of Weiss' eye. "Weiss...?" she asked in a quiet voice, her attitude completely turned around. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that."

Weiss shook her head, "No, you're right. I have no room to talk right now. It's just... I've been so concerned with making things right with you for the way I've acted. You know I didn't mean any of those things I said, I've just never been friends with someone like you before... There's just a lot I don't know."

It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the issue that Blake had noticed her being preoccupied with. Since her talk with Yang, her main focus had been trying to figure out her whole situation with guys and girls. She'd chosen her words very carefully here, hoping she'd be able to bait Blake into a conversation to help her. She felt bad for lying and not coming right out and saying it, but she didn't want anyone else knowing, not until she figured things out at least.

"Well, maybe we can fix that now," Blake suggested, saying exactly what Weiss hoped she would. "Ask me anything you want, don't be afraid about saying something you think is offensive or whatever else."

Weiss gave a small smile, "Alright... Um... Well, I guess I'm kind of curious the whole being a lesbian thing, mind if I start there?"

Blake looked surprised, "Really? I thought you would've started with me being a Faunus."

"I mean, it's not like I don't know anything about the Faunus. I haven't been friends with one before, but I've heard enough of what you've said to Yang and Sun to get a fair idea of what you've been through. The thing is, I've never been friends with someone who's gay before either, but that's something I really know nothing about."

"Fair enough. And I'm bisexual, just for the record. But anyway, go ahead. What do you want to know?"

' _Bisexual?_ ' Weiss wondered with a mix of confusion and amazement. ' _Wait a minute... That's it! That's why I still think Neptune is attractive! I've been looking at this so black and white, it never occurred to me that I could like both! This is incredible! I'll never have to tell my father, and I guess I don't have to have this awkward conversation with Blake, and... No, wait... What if there's a girl I really like? I mean, I couldn't do anything now, or anytime soon, but..._ '

"Um, let's see..." Weiss began, already feeling the awkwardness of the conversation, even though it hadn't started. "Well, how did you find out?"

Blake paused a moment to think. "I guess I've known for a while. There was a girl I was really close with a couple years ago, and she ended up being my first girlfriend. We dated for a while, but broke up when I got involved with bigger raids and things in the White Fang. I had two other short relationships before Adam and I started dating, and that was when I knew I was bi. I thought it would be weird at first to find people to go out with after that, but it actually makes it a lot easier."

"That's actually my next question," Weiss interjected, happy to have been given a clean segue into the question she was very anxious to get an answer to. "How do you find another girl to date? Wouldn't it be weird to ask them out and get turned down because their straight?"

Blake blushed a little and shrugged, "Well, sometimes that happens. The thing is though, after a while you can kind of pick out girls that aren't straight. I don't mean because of something like a butch haircut, but just by little things like the way they look at other girls, or by the way they don't look at guys."

"Really? It's that obvious? So when you look at everyone walking past us, you can tell that easily?"

Blake nodded and took a quick look around. She pointed out a few girls she had a feeling about, but Weiss couldn't make the distinction. "Don't worry, it's not something you have to get good at unless you need to pick them out. You know, it's weird, but you've actually been giving off the same signals I watch for. If I didn't know you, I probably would've come up to you."

"Really?" Weiss asked shock. She hadn't realised how much it was showing, but sure enough she could think of the people she'd had her eyes on today, and it definitely matched Blake's earlier description. There was a moment where she was going to just come out and tell Blake the truth, but hesitated once again. Instead, she just laughed. "Oh, yeah, right. Me, a lesbian? That's crazy! Can you imagine?"

Blake forced a weak laugh in return, but inside she was doing anything but. "Yeah... Crazy..." she said sadly, looking away to hide her expression. "Well, it's getting late, we should probably heading back soon if we want to be on time for dinner."

Weiss was a little surprised that Blake already wanted to go, and feared she may have reacted a little too strongly to her comment. Nonetheless she didn't argue, and agreed that it was time to head back, not wanting to say anything else she'd regret. The walk back to the airship was very quiet, and Weiss started to worry that she may have ruined their afternoon at the last possible minute. They boarded the ship and took their seats, and Blake seemed to be back to the same distracted state she was in before. And now Weiss seemed to be joining her.

Weiss sighed, ' _Great job, you had to make a big deal out of denying it... I should've just told her, why did I tell her? Why don't I just tell her now? No, it's too late for that... What do I do now? Should I apologise? Does that even mean anything for me now? Gah! Why do I keep doing this? Maybe this really is who I am..._ '

"Weiss? Everything okay?" Blake asked, catching the heiress by surprise.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just, um... just thinking about some stuff. So, um... did you have fun today?"

Blake smiled and nodded, "I did, I really needed this. Thank you, you really are a good friend."

' _Wait, what? She's not mad? I'm so confused, what is going on? Maybe I'm just overthinking things..._ '

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I'm sorry if I said anything that made you uncomfortable, I'm still learning."

"Don't worry, you didn't say anything wrong. And even if you did, I wouldn't be upset. I know you mean well, even if it doesn't always come across. I suppose I owe you a bit of an apology too. I've been working through something, and I shouldn't let it affect the way I act toward my friends and teammates."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Weiss asked, even though she was still avoiding talking about her own problem.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I think going out today gave me what I needed to get over it. At least I think so, I'll have to wait and see to be sure, but... I think I'm alright now."

They spent the rest of the flight idly chatting until the airship landed back on campus. Weiss started walking toward the dining hall, but Blake decided to go back to the room to put her new bag away. They split up for now, and Weiss began to make her way to meet the rest of her friends for dinner.

' _I don't think today could've g_ _one any better!' Weiss thought was she walked along. 'I feel like this was the first time we actually interacted like real friends. I'm glad she could forgive me after everything that's happened, I'm pretty lucky to have a friend like her. I hope things can stay this way for us, I'd hate to screw things up between us again._ '

"Hey Weiss!" a cheerful voice called out behind her, returning her attention to the real world. She turned around to see Ruby jogging to catch up to her. "Didn't think I'd run into you until we got to dinner. Where's Blake?"

"She went back to the room to get drop her stuff off before dinner, she said she wouldn't be long. How come you're not with Yang or JNPR?"

"Yang wanted me to get the Remnant game board," the leader said, patting the board game she was carrying under her arm. "We're gonna play in the library after dinner, you should play too. But more importantly, how'd your day go? Did you and Blake get along?"

"It actually went really well," Weiss happily replied. "And yes, we got along wonderfully. I don't think I've ever seen her smile as much as I did today."

"That's awesome! So do you think she's all done moping around now?"

Weiss smiled and nodded, "I think so. She told me that today really helped her out, and that she was over whatever the other thing that was bothering was."

"Great! Looks like team RWBY is back to full strength!" Ruby shouted excitedly before a low rumbling from her stomach interrupted her. "On that note, let's keep it that way and get to dinner, I'm starving!" Weiss couldn't help but agree and resumed her walk, now with her leader at her side. For her, today had been a complete success, as everything seemed to have gone according to plan. However, the same wasn't quite true for Blake.

 **Want more goodies, like the original ending to this chapter? (Out tomorrow)** **Become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :)**

 **Biggest thank you to my Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski  
** **Kenseilon**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	4. Dance Dance Revelation

Chapter 4: Dance Dance Revelation

A few weeks passed, but Weiss was never able to muster the courage needed to come out to Blake and get the more direct advice she wanted. Meanwhile, Blake's situation regarding her crush didn't improve. In the first few days after following afternoon out she did feel like she was starting to move on. However, nearly every night after, she was visited by increasingly vivid dreams about the two of them together, and it was starting to take its toll on her. She would stay up at night to keep herself from dreaming, and try to take her mind other places, but it wasn't any help. Weiss was in every corner of her mind, and it was driving her to the brink of insanity.

The lack of sleep was beginning to show, but she was able to do a good job of hiding the cause. After the recent encounter the team had had with Roman at the White Fang rally, her teammates were starting to grow more worried about her obsession with finding answers. While it was true that that weighed heavily in her mind, it was matched almost equally by her growing depression about Weiss. Her mood declined more rapidly than before, and she felt herself losing interest in everything.

One of the other things on her mind was the constant pressure from her friends and teammates to come to the dance. With all the recent stress, she needed more than anyone to have a night to relax and have fun. The attempts by her team to convince her were having no effect, and eventually Yang decided to take matters into her own hands. She succeeded in luring Blake away to talk to her alone in an empty classroom, but the raven-haired girl still refused to budge. Yang's temper eventually got the best of her for a brief moment, and it was enough for her to drive her point home.

"I'm not asking you to stop..." Yang said, sounding on the verge of tears as she pulled Blake into a hug. "Just please, get some rest. Not just for you, but for the people you care about. And, if you feel like coming out tomorrow, I'll save you a dance."

She broke the embrace and made her way up the stairs and to the door at the back of the room, leaving Blake by herself to think things over.

' _She's right, I need to stop this,'_ Blake thought, letting out a sigh as she started to leave. _'It's not fair to her, to my team, to my friends... But it's not just Roman, it's Weiss... It's always been Weiss... Am I ready to tell her about this yet? No, not really, but I don't think I have much of a choice._ '

"Yang, wait," Blake called out before her partner was through the door, walking back to the front of the room as she did. "I... I really appreciate you doing this, so thank you. But... that's not the only reason I've been acting this way."

Yang turned around immediately and walked back down. "What do you mean?" she asked with look of serious concern. "What's going on?"

"There's something I..." Blake began, but hesitated. "Nevermind, it's nothing. Forget I said anything." There was something in her head screaming at her not to say anything, that if she just kept it to herself it'd go away in time. She wanted to believe it, but she'd already started and knew that Yang wouldn't leave her alone until the information came out.

"Don't give me that," the blonde said, narrowing her eyes. "Tell me right now, what's wrong?"

"Yang, please, I can't-"

"NOW!"

"ALRIGHT!" Blake yelled, throwing her arms up in the air. "IT'S WEISS, OKAY?" She instantly regretted both her tone and actually disclosing the information so easily, but it was already done. She let her arms fall back to her sides and stared down at the floor while she waited for Yang's response.

Yang gave her a confused look, "Weiss? What about Weiss? Did something happen between you two?"

"No, no," Blake replied in a much quieter voice than before. It was true, nothing had happened between them, but not for the reason Yang was thinking. Blake sat down in the front row of the room and put her head down, covering it with her hands. "It's not something I want to talk about..."

"Whether you want to or not, we're going to," Yang said with an odd mix of sympathy and authority. She sat down next to her partner and put an arm around the girl's shoulders. "You know you can tell me anything. Whatever it is, I'm here for you, we all are."

' _She's right, I can trust her with anything. Maybe she'll have something more helpful to say than Pyrrha. I shouldn't say that, Pyrrha was being helpful, and if it were anyone but Weiss I'm sure her advice would've worked._ '

Blake sighed as picked her head up off the table, "Alright. About Weiss... I... I'm..." She knew what she wanted to say, but her brain was fighting her lips about letting it out. "I just... I can't stop thinking about her. I keep having dreams about us as a couple, and I can't get her out of my head. I tried to see if she might be interested, but she shot that down in a heartbeat. That was weeks ago though, and I thought I'd be over her by now, but I-"

"Hold on a minute," Yang interrupted with eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Are you saying you asked out Weiss?"

"No, I was too afraid to. I brought up if she was into girls to see if it was even a possibility, and her reaction was... not good."

"Wait, I thought you and Sun were a thing. You two have been-"

"No, we're not," Blake interrupted, a little more forcefully than she would've liked. "He's a really sweet guy, but... I don't know, the way I feel about Weiss isn't like anything I've ever felt before."

"Oh... alright. Well, let's go back a few steps then. What exactly happened when you talked to her?" Yang asked.

Blake shrugged, "I asked if she liked girls, and she doesn't, simple as that."

It took every last fibre of control Yang had not to tell her partner about the conversation with Weiss the night they were out at the party. A promise was a promise though, so she kept it to herself. However, no part of that promise said she couldn't try to set up with someone. After all, Weiss did seem open-minded to trying a date with another girl. "So, you never actually told her you like her?" Yang asked, and Blake shook her head. "Maybe that's the problem. You should go for it, see what happens. Sure, she might turn you down, but she could also like you back."

' _I was wrong, I liked Pyrrha's advice better._ '

"Believe me, if she weren't on our team I would," Blake replied with a heavy sigh. "But I know that if I do it'll make everything so awkward between us."

Yang shrugged, "I don't see why that'd happen. I'm sure there'd be a little weirdness at first, that is if she does say no, but I don't think she'd let it get out of control. You should tell her how you feel, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Everything," Blake groaned. "I don't know, maybe this'll all just sort itself out? She's clearly into Neptune, maybe once they get together I'll stop feeling this way."

"Yeah, because not being able to have your crush never makes you want them more."

Blake scowled at her partner, "If all you're going to do is make jokes then I-"

"Relax, I'm just trying to lighten the mood," Yang said with a faint smile. "But even you don't believe that'll help you get over her. Look, I've given you my advice, and it's your choice whether or not you wanna take it, but you need to do something so you can start acting like yourself again."

"I know," Blake replied, her sullen face starting to perk back up. "Thanks for making me talk about this, it feels good to get it off my chest."

Yang grinned, "Glad I could help. So will I see you at the dance tomorrow?"

"Yes, yes you will."

The rest of the time between then and the following evening was fairly uneventful, and at last it was time for the dance. While the dance didn't actually begin until seven o'clock, Yang and Weiss were both there about an hour beforehand to make sure everything was set up properly. Blake arrived on time, accompanied by Sun, and for the first time in a while she actually felt like herself. The thought of telling Weiss about her feelings still terrified her, but somehow it also brought an odd feeling of comfort that the whole ordeal seemed to be nearing an end.

The dance went very smoothly from the beginning, and apart from Jaune being in a dress, everything was going just as Weiss and Yang had hoped. Everyone was having a good time, including Blake, which brought the morale of team RWBY up dramatically. She and Sun were practically inseparable for the first half of the dance, but eventually Sun was pulled away to be with his team for a while, which gave her and Yang the chance to chat for a bit.

"See? I told you that you'd have fun," Yang said with a smug grin. "So, are you and Sun a thing now? Get over Weiss that quickly?"

Blake blushed and shook her head, "No, we're not, Weiss is still the one I'm after. Although when things don't work out, knowing Sun will take me in a heartbeat is kind of comforting. I feel bad saying he's my second choice though."

"If you say so. Have you thought about what you're gonna say to Weiss yet?"

"Not really. I'm probably just going to be upfront and say it. Like you said, what's the worst that could happen?" Blake replied, actually feeling confident about what she was saying.

Yang smiled, "That's the spirit. I'm glad to see you acting like yourself again. Moping around like that doesn't suit you too well."

"Yeah. Thank you for the talk the other day, it really helped."

"Any time! I've gotta say, I hope things work out between you and Weiss, I think you'd be pretty cute together."

"You really think so?" Blake asked in surprise. While all of her dreams about them as a couple had portrayed it that way, she couldn't imagine Weiss actually acting cute and playful toward her.

"Well, you'd be an... interesting couple to at the least, that's for sure."

Blake grinned, "Yeah, that's one way to put it. I guess all that's left now to figure out the best time to tell her. I know we're signing up for missions tomorrow afternoon, so it needs to be before or after that. I don't want things to be weird if we're going ti be fighting together. What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't wait too long," Yang replied. "I don't know if you'll ever get a perfect moment, so if you see one you think would work, take it. Maybe even here at the dance could be a good time."

"Whoa, whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is definitely not the place for that, there's so many people!"

Yang smiled, "Exactly, she's not about to make a scene in front of so many people, I can't imagine her doing that. It's up to you, but I think-"

"Hey guys, what's up?" Nora interrupted as she merrily walked over to join the conversation. "Man, this dance is awesome! You two doing anything fun?"

"Well, Blake's planning on asking Weiss out," Yang happily replied without a moment of hesitation. Blake's eyes shot open at the comment, and she stared Yang down with a look that said she was going to kill her.

Nora looked at Blake for a moment before making a face and turning back to Yang. She burst out laughing, needing to brace herself on a nearby table to keep from falling over. "No, really, got anything going on tonight?" she asked again, wiping a tear from her eye.

Yang grinned, "No, not really. Although, I've got some ideas in mind. Wanna be my wingman tonight?" Nora instantly agreed, and Yang winked at Blake as she and Nora walked away while Blake was still frozen in shock from what the blonde had just said.

' _I'm really glad Nora didn't take her seriously, I think I might've actually died if she had. Either that or Yang would've died. Now, about telling Weiss... Would it really be a good idea to tell her here? I guess Yang's right that she wouldn't make a scene, but... I don't know if I'm ready yet. Come on, what am I saying? I fight monsters, why am I so afraid of this? That settles it, I'm telling her here, tonight. This should be fun..._ '

She sighed and looked around the room for Weiss. Eventually she found her over the other side of the room, sitting and talking to Neptune. ' _Shit, that's not good. I mean, it's good for her, but not for talking to her about this. I guess I'll wait till-_ ' She cut herself off when she saw Neptune leave to join Scarlett and Sage, and she felt butterflies starting to well up in her stomach. ' _Oh wow, alright, I'm actually doing this now. Stay calm, Blake. Deep breaths, you can do this. Here we go._ '

"Hey Weiss," Blake cheerfully greeted the heiress after walking over and taking a seat beside her. "Enjoying the dance?"

Weiss nodded, "I think it turned out quite spectacularly. I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself as well."

Blake smiled, "Yeah, it's going great." Her face fell slightly after she finished. Not by much, but it was enough for Weiss to pick up on. Of course, she didn't know the cause of it, and decided to lead with a joke for once since the dance had put her in a rather good mood.

"What's wrong? Sun not quite feminine enough for you?" Weiss teased. Normally, Blake would've laughed and had a comeback ready in an instant, but not right now.

"Look, Weiss, I need to tell you something," she said shakily.

"Is everything alright? I'm not being insensitive about the whole girls thing again, am I?"

Blake smiled and shook her head, "No, that's not it. Well, I guess that actually is part of it. Look, just promise me you won't freak out, okay?"

"Okay..." Weiss hesitantly replied, not sure of exactly what to expect. "I promise, now what's the matter?"

' _Alright, this is it. You can do this, you can do this._ '

Blake took a deep breath, let it out, and looked down at the ground. "Weiss, there's a reason I asked you if you liked girls..." she said, her gaze not shifting. "It's also the reason I started acting so depressed after our conversation in the library, and at the end of that afternoon together." It wasn't exactly how she'd planned it come out, but it was the best she could muster with her head continuing to scream at her not to say anything.

"Why would..." Weiss trailed off as she slowly made the connections in her head. Her eyes widened at the realisation, and her hands shot up to cover her mouth to muffle a loud gasp. "Y-You... I... W-What...? Are you saying that... that you... m-me?"

Blake couldn't help a small giggle from escaping at Weiss' incoherent response. She nodded, "Yeah..."

The two sat in complete silence for a over a minute, neither one knowing what to say next. ' _I guess that's better than the reaction I expected... Or maybe this isn't the full reaction yet..._ '

Blake turned back to Weiss, who looked almost too stunned to speak. The heiress' eyes drifted toward the floor and darted from side to side while she thought over what she'd just been told, letting it fully sink in. "Okay..." Weiss began, looking up to meet Blake's gaze. "So... y-you like me? Like, in that way?"

"Yes, I do," Blake replied. The feeling of relief was incredible to have finally said it out loud, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling ear to ear. That feeling didn't last long after seeing a look that resembled something close to horror from Weiss, and she sighed before continuing. "I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid of making things awkward between us, especially after the way you reacted in the library, but I just... I couldn't stop thinking about you. I've started getting better about it, but... I don't know, I just needed to tell you. I promise I won't act on it though, I promise."

"I um... I need to go," Weiss said hurriedly as she stood up and rushed away before Blake had the chance to protest.

"Weiss, wait! I..." she called out, but Weiss was already gone. She sat there for moment before putting her head in her hands.

' _Fuck! She hates me! Why did I have to say anything? I was getting over her just fine without saying anything... Fuck!'_

"Blake?" Pyrrha asked as she came over, making the Faunus girl jump. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded and wiped away a tear, "Yeah, never better."

Pyrrha gave her a sympathetic look and sat down, "I saw Weiss run off... You told her?" Blake nodded, and Pyrrha's sad expression only deepened. "I'm sorry..."

Blake shook her head, "It's not your fault... I knew that's how she'd react, I should've just kept it to myself."

"No, it's good you got it out there. What'd she say after you told her?"

"Nothing really, she just ran off," Blake sadly replied. In her mind, everything was ruined, but Pyrrha had other ideas. She wasn't about to let her friend give up so easily.

"And you just let her?" Pyrrha asked. Blake gave her a confused look in return, so she continued. "You can't just leave it like that, of course things will be awkward then! You need to actually talk through it."

Blake took a moment to think before smiling and giving a nod, "You're right. Thanks, Pyrrha." She stood up and looked over at the door to the balcony Weiss had exited through. She took another deep breath and made her way over, bracing herself for what she assumed would be the most awkward conversation of her life. She slowly walked outside and found Weiss leaning on the railing, looking out over the city. "Hey, are you okay?"

Weiss spun around in surprise, "Oh, Blake... Yeah, I'm fine, I just... I need to be alone right now."

' _Not happening._ '

Blake sighed and joined the heiress at the railing, "I'm sorry I was so blunt, but I didn't know what else to do. It's just so different with you being on my team, and me being a Faunus, and... Please don't hate me, I'm sorry I-"

"Hate you?" Weiss interrupted, almost sounding shocked. "I don't hate you. I just... I don't know, I don't know how to react to this."

"Please don't make a big deal about it. It's over now, I've said what I needed to say, and I'm ready to move on. I know you're straight, that's pretty clear, it shouldn't have even been a thought from the start. I know I've made you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry."

"No, that's not what's bothering me," Weiss replied with a conflicted expression.

"Really?" Blake asked in surprise. "Well... what is it then?"

Weiss sighed, "Blake, up until the other day, I had never even considered whether or not I could like another girl. With the way I was raised, it just never occurred to me as a possibility... But when you asked me that, I had to actually stop and think about it. I have so many questions for myself that've come up, and each one seems to lead to more, and I'm just trying to figure things out."

Blake's stomach was practically in her throat as she spoke, "Oh... Have you come up with any answers yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I have," Weiss replied with a little more confidence in her voice than before. "I think it's about time that I accept that I'm not entirely straight. I don't know if I'm somewhere in the middle or not, but I intend to figure it out."

' _Holy shit holy shit holy shit. Is she really saying what I think she's saying? This can't be real, there's no way._ '

"O-Okay," Blake stuttered. "So... what are you going to do to find out?"

Weiss gave her an exasperated look, "Really? If you can't figure that out then I can go to someone else and-"

"No!" Blake said quickly. "I mean, I think I know what you're saying, but I want to be sure."

"You said you like me in that way... I don't know if I feel the same way with how new this is to me, but I can say a few things for certain. First, I think you're an incredibly beautiful woman, and I'll admit that sometimes I'm jealous of that. Second, I think that despite your flaws, you're a wonderful person, and I'm glad to call you my friend. You'll make someone very happy, although I'd always thought that person would be Sun. And third... I think that if I want to see how I really feel, toward you or any girl for that matter, then... I need to give it a try."

"What're you saying exactly?" Blake asked with a slight shortness of breath, more as confirmation than as an actual question.

"I'm saying... I want you to take me on a date. We'll see how things work out, how I feel, and go from there... Does that sound alright?"

Blake's face lit up, and the widest smile she'd ever had spread across her cheeks. Never had she thought Weiss would say anything close to this, and it took her a few moments to recover from the overload of joy that was coursing through her mind. She nodded vigorously, "That sounds great! I promise I'll make it the best date you've ever had! I... wow! I can't believe it! I have to tell-"

"Hang on," Weiss interrupted, grabbing Blake's arm before the girl had a chance to run back inside. "I want this to stay between us, alright? At least for now. If it ever got back to my parents that I agreed to go on a date with another girl... Let's just say there'd be problems. Big problems. Not to mention what would happen when they find out you're a Faunus."

"Don't worry, I won't go around telling everyone. Pyrrha and Yang already know about me liking you though, they're the only reason I had the courage to actually tell you in the first place. Do you mind if I tell them? They're already going to ask."

Weiss sighed, "Well, Yang already knows. She was the one who suggested that I go on a date with another girl in the first place. And I guess if Pyrrha already knows then it's fine, but no one else, okay?"

"Got it," Blake happily replied. The two were quiet for a moment, and Blake was the next to speak after a thought crossed her mind. "So... what about you and Neptune?" It wasn't exactly a subject she wanted to talk about, but she knew it had to be brought up.

Weiss shrugged, "Well, he's a really attractive guy, but I can't say I'd ever want to date him. He's not exactly my type."

"And I am?" Blake laughed, and Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what you are, but perhaps. Speaking of Neptune though, I should probably go find him. He said he wouldn't be long, and he might be looking for me now. He said he wanted us to have a moment alone later."

Blake grinned, "Ooo, I know what that means! You kids have fun! Be safe, use protection!" Weiss glared back at her for a minute before heading back inside, leaving Blake by herself on the balcony. Making a joke like that wasn't usually Blake's thing, but she was too giddy right now to act any better. While everything was still and quiet around her, apart from the echo of the music coming from inside the building, the inside of Blake's head it was anything but.

' _AHHHH! SHE WANTS TO GO ON A DATE WITH ME! Holy shit, I think I'm going to pass out, this is unbelievable! I actually have a chance to make her like me. Well, I guess that part is still up in the air, but I can make a good impression if she does. Where should I take her? Hmm... Maybe dinner? Probably not, I can't afford to take her anywhere nice. There has to be something good..._ '

"Blake?" Yang asked from the doorway as she cautiously walked outside.

"Oh, hey Yang!" Blake bubbly greeted her.

The brawler gave her a weird look, "You seem awfully... happy. I just saw Weiss come inside looking really mad, did something happen?"

"Oh, I made a stupid joke when she left," Blake replied with a slight giggle. "But yes, I'm very happy. You'll never guess what just happened."

Blake's tone led Yang immediately to one conclusion, and after her conversation with Weiss the other night it seemed like the only possibility. "Whoa, did she-?"

"Everything alright out here?" Pyrrha interrupted as she came out onto the balcony. "I saw Weiss looking rather angry, did you tell her- Oh, hello Yang! Didn't see you at first."

Blake smiled, "Don't worry, she already knows. And Weiss isn't really mad, I was just acting stupid when she left."

"You seem awfully cheerful," Pyrrha replied, returning the smile. She was lead to the same conclusion as Yang was, but unlike the blonde she doubted whether or not her hunch could be correct.

Yang grinned, "I think she may have gotten a better reaction from Weiss than she expected."

"That's for sure," Blake said a little louder than she wanted to. She took a second to try to compose herself, but she was still too excited. "I told her how I felt, and she says there's a chance she might actually feel the same way! She wants me to take her on a date and try it out."

Both Yang and Pyrrha's jaws hit the ground at Blake's the last sentence. After they recovered from the initial shock, Pyrrha was the first to respond. "Okay, hold on a minute. Are you telling us that Weiss asked you out?" she asked incredulously, and Blake nodded in response. "I don't understand, I thought you said she was straight? And what about the way she's been acting towards Neptune?"

Blake just continued to smile, "She said needs to think about it, apparently she'd never thought it was possible for her to like girls until now. If all goes well on our date, then I might have a girlfriend. If she says she's still into guys, then I guess things just go back to normal."

"Are you sure?" Yang asked with a concerned look.

"I think so. I've gotten everything out that I need to say, and she's giving me the chance to take her out. If we try and she can't feel the same way toward me now, then I can accept that. We'll just have to wait and see."

"I'm glad to hear that. So does this mean we finally have the Blake we all know and love back?" Pyrrha asked with a growing smile.

The Faunus girl grinned, "Yeah, I think so. Come on, let's go back inside. I've still got a dance or two left in me. And hey, if this can happen, maybe that means there's a chance we can finally get you and Jaune together."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. I don't think he'd get the idea if I went up to him and kissed him right here and now."

An evil grin spread over Yang's face as they turned to head back in, "Twenty Lien if you do."

"Seriously?" Pyrrha replied with a laugh, raising her eyebrows in amusement. "Hmm... Okay. But just so you know, I would've done it for free."

The three went back inside, and both Pyrrha and Yang held up their end of the deal. To everyone's surprise, Jaune wasn't quite as clueless as they had let on. All in all, it was a interesting evening to say the least. Blake was back to acting like her normal self for the rest of the dance, and there was no awkwardness that she could detect between her and Weiss. Her head was swimming with ideas of how to have the perfect date for them, but she couldn't seem to peg one thing to settle on. Maybe it was the noise and crowd that were distracting her, or perhaps that she was simply still to happy to think clearly, but she didn't mind, because tonight had gone better than she ever would've imagined.

 **So what do you guys think, will their date go well? Personally, I think I'd be almost to good to be true if it did, but that's just me. (Oooo possible foreshadowing in the author's note! Or maybe I'm just messing with you. ;p ) Anyway, thanks for reading and be sure to follow, review, and all that fun stuff. It means a lot to see you being engaged in my writing, and I'll see y'all next chapter!**

Thank you to my wonderful Patrons:

Mike Zembrzuski

Kenseilon

Ryan Hoogerdijk

You're the best ❤️


	5. Let's Make a Date

Chapter 5: Let's Make a Date

The next few days were turbulent to say the least for team RWBY. Their first mission ended with the arrest of Roman Torchwick and the assumed end to whatever he'd been organising with the White Fang. There were still a lot of questions to be answered, but for now at least, everything seemed to be returning to normal. After returning from their mission, the team had a nice weekend to relax before they got back into their classes. Monday began with a patience-testing nine a.m. lecture in Professor Port's class, which none of them looked forward to. For the past few weeks, this class had been used as a time to trying to catch up on lost sleep for Blake, but not today. For the first time in weeks, the raven-haired was awake, peppy, and rested.

Ever since the dance, Blake had been back to her normal self, possibly even more outgoing than before. Her head was still filled with thoughts about her and Weiss, but now for a much better reason. Planning their date was the biggest thing on her mind right now, but thankfully it wasn't nearly as consuming as her previous thoughts about the heiress had been. That meant she could once again focus on class, study, and most importantly: sleep. In the weeks following her first dreams about Weiss, she'd averaged maybe three hours of sleep a night, but now she could once again sleep through the night.

Her teammates were impressed by her sudden increase in energy and mood. At first Ruby didn't know why, but Blake couldn't keep something like this for too long, and finally got permission from Weiss to let her in on what was going on. Ruby had no objections, but did warn her about what could happen if things went wrong, but Blake was already fully aware of that. It still worried her that if she and Weiss did date and have a bad breakup, it would mean hell for her and the team, but she did her best not to think about the worst case scenario for now. What mattered at the moment was getting their first date to be perfect, and most importantly what that date would be.

Blake spent the majority of Port's class jotting down sporadic notes while also doodling in the margins of her notebook, all the while trying to plan when and where to take Weiss out to. Most of the time she was the one being taken out, so being in charge of the date wasn't exactly her forte, but it did mean she already knew what girls, or at least what she, wanted and didn't want on a date. Of course, Weiss was no ordinary girl, and this was no ordinary date, so that already meant that most of her prior experience in this area wouldn't be of any help. She'd had plenty of time to think since the dance, but still had nothing concrete in mind, and it was starting to worry her.

' _Gah! Why can't I think of anything? I'm only going have one shot to get this right, it has to be perfect, but I just can't figure out what to do! Weiss is so classy and refined, anything I'd want to do would be beneath her for lack of a better term, and anything she'd want to do would be way out of my price range, and I'm not about to ask her to pay for our first date. I thought for sure there'd be a compromise to be made somewhere, but I can't think of anything. I'm gonna lose my mind soon if I can't figure something out._ '

The bell rang and Blake was the last to leave the classroom, having taken an extra minute to snap out of her thoughts before realising the room had emptied. The next class was a history lecture with Professor Oobleck, which no one in particular was happy about. Today's subject was about relations between humans and Faunus over the years, which gave Blake a hint of an idea for her upcoming date.

' _Maybe I could take her to somewhere entirely Faunus owned, try to show her a little more that she's wrong about us. I shouldn't say that, I know she isn't truly that racist, but still. Actually no, I don't think she'd appreciate me trying to force a point on her through a date. This has to be something special... but what?_ '

"Miss Belladonna," Oobleck said suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Can you answer the question, please? His last name only will suffice."

' _Oh shit, what question?_ ' Her eyes darted to the board to see if there was any clue as to what had been asked, but they professor's handwriting was practically illegible. ' _Last name only... Were we talking about the war? Okay, um... taking a shot in the dark here._ '

"Y-Yes, it's um... General Kindred?"

Oobleck gave a surprised nod, "Yes, that's correct. You're paying attention even when you don't look like you are, I like that. Moving on!"

Blake sighed with relief and slumped back into her seat, earning an amused smile from Weiss. "That was a complete guess, wasn't it?" she asked, and Blake happily nodded. "You get so lucky sometimes it's not even funny."

Yang grinned and gave the heiress a wink, "Maybe after your date she'll get even luckier." Weiss' face turned a deep shade of red at the joke, and Blake shot her partner a glare. "Oh come on, I'm just messing with you two."

"Perhaps you could do so with a more tasteful subject," Weiss replied, crossing her arms. "And besides, unlike you, I would never sleep with someone on a first date."

Ruby did her best to suppress a laugh, "Oooo shots fired, sis!"

"Don't start a war with me, Schnee, you won't win," Yang snapped back with a devilish smile. The conversation ended there, but Blake could see Weiss was still fuming a little from the exchange. She couldn't help but laugh to herself at how easily Yang could push the girl's buttons. Something about that exchange made her earlier idea for their date seem like a more viable option than before, although she wasn't entirely sure why, and soon the idea solidified on her mind. After what felt like an eternity the class finally ended, and Blake pulled Weiss aside while the rest of the team headed to lunch to tell her what she'd come up with.

"Hey, I think I know what to do for our date," she said quietly, knowing Weiss would be furious if someone heard.

Weiss blushed, "Oh, okay. Well go ahead, tell me."

"I was thinking we could go to the north side of the city for dinner. There's a Faunus owned restaurant that I like to go to when I feel like I need to get away from everything. And we wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing that we're on a date together. Nobody there would care, and there wouldn't be anyone you'd know around either."

"Is this still because of how I reacted when I found out?" Weiss asked, seeming a little sceptical about the suggestion.

"No, not at all," Blake replied with a shy smile. "I just really like it. Everyone inside is friendly, the food is good, and it's just nice to see humans and Faunus getting along somewhere. If you don't want to that's fine, I can pick somewhere else, but-"

"No, no, it sounds great. Were you thinking of going tonight?" Weiss interrupted with a small smile, getting a nod from Blake. "Then it's settled. I suppose we'll leave from our dorm around five so we can get there at a reasonable time to eat. Speaking of which, we should get to the cafeteria, I'm starving."

Blake smiled back and agreed it was time to get some lunch. They met up with their team and team JNPR after getting their food and sat down at their usual table. Nora asked what kept them back, and Weiss was quick to say it had to do with exchanging notes from the class. No one questioned her, but it was clear from Yang's expression that she was doing everything in her power to resist making some joke that would give away the real reason. Granted, team JNPR knowing wouldn't be the end of the world since both Blake and Weiss knew they would be quiet about it, but they still didn't want too many people knowing before anything actually happened.

After lunch was combat training, followed by a lecture on Grimm physiology. After that the girls were at last able to return to their dorm and relax, which Blake fully intended to take advantage of. She'd built up a rather large sleep defect from the weeks prior, but she was almost back to a normal schedule. She welcomed being able to take a nap here to take her mind off things, something she hasn't been able to do for a long while. She drifted off to sleep after a few crude jokes from Yang about cat naps, and woke up an unknown amount of time later to someone lightly shaking her shoulder.

"Wake up, sleepy head," Yang whispered as her partner started to stir.

"Wha...?" Blake asked groggily as she yawned and stretched. "Yang? Why'd you wake me up?"

The blonde grinned, "It's quarter to five. You wouldn't want to be late for your big date, would you?"

Blake was on her feet in an instant, rushing to the bathroom to get ready. Luckily Weiss was coming back from the library with Ruby, so she didn't know that Blake had almost overslept. After her quick preparations, Blake came back into the room and took a seat on the edge of her bed, letting out a long, nervous breath as she did. She glanced up at Yang, who looked rather amused at the way she was acting. She narrowed her eyes, "What's so funny, Blondie?"

"You," was Yang's response as she smiled and walked over to sit beside her partner. "I don't usually get to see emotion from you, or Weiss for that matter. It's a nice change of pace."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Oh shut up. I'm emotional... sometimes... I don't know, I'm just really afraid I'm going to screw something up tonight. I know I won't get a second chance at this."

"Just try to relax. If Weiss really likes you, then she won't care if everything doesn't go perfectly. Be yourself, and try to have a good time."

"Thanks," Blake said, returning the blonde's smile. "I'll try to relax, but I don't think you know how much I'm freaking out inside. What if she-?"

Yang reached over and covered Blake's mouth with her hand, "Hey, I don't wanna hear any more negativity from you. Everything is gonna go great, and you two are gonna come home giggling, holding hands, and all the other cutesy stuff couples do. I just know it."

"I really hope you're right."

Weiss and Ruby returned only minutes later, and after a few quick preparations of her own, Weiss joined Blake to make their way into the city. It was really windy outside and looked like it could rain at any minute, so they wasted no time getting to the airships. They took their seats near the back, the ship departed not long after, and suddenly all of the nervousness Blake had been trying to suppress came over her at once. It was strange that despite wanting to make everything go well, she knew that the outcome would almost entirely be dependent on Weiss. The two of them getting together would be up to whether or not Weiss found she did in fact like girls enough to date one, and that lack of control on Blake's end is what was making her so nervous.

"So Blake, tell me about yourself," Weiss said out of the blue, getting a quizzical look from Blake in return. "This is a date, isn't it? Shouldn't we be getting to know each other better?"

Blake smiled, "Yeah, I guess we should. Well, what do you want to know? I know I've already told you guys a lot of myself after the night at the docks, so is there somewhere specific you'd like to start?"

"Hmm... I am a little curious as to why, out of all the people in the world, you went after me."

"Right to the good stuff, huh?" Blake asked with a joking grin. "It's hard to say. I started having dreams about you, about us, and after that you were all I could think about. You're smart, you're beautiful, and you're actually a really nice person underneath the icy exterior. I guess I could ask you the same thing, what about me made you agree to do this?"

Weiss blushed and turned away for a second before answering. This kind of thing was still very new to her, and she couldn't seem to stop her embarrassment from showing. "I uh, I'm not entirely sure. When you brought this whole thing up, there were a couple hours where I had no idea at all what I really liked, or who I really was. Yang gave me some advice the night we went to that party, but it wasn't until the dance that it clicked and I started to see you differently. I can't explain everything, but you-"

"Hold on," Blake interrupted, looking a little confused. "You came out to Yang that night?"

"Yeah... Why?"

Blake groaned and shook her head, "If she'd told me that when she convinced me to go to the dance, it would've saved me a lot of worry and trouble."

"I made her swear not to tell anyone," Weiss replied, smiling a little that Yang kept her word despite how hard she knew it had to have been. "Well, it was all worth it, right? We're here, together."

Blake couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, we are. You can't even imagine how happy that makes me."

"I'm sure I could come close. Believe it or not, I'm actually really excited about this too."

The airship landed not long after, and Blake led them from the airport and toward the north side of the city. The area they were going to was know for having a large number of Faunus living there, so Weiss wasn't entirely sure what you expect. Her expectations were for it to be fairly sketchy and run down, but as they continued to walk she hardly noticed a change in scenery. While the apartments and buildings they passed weren't quite as nice as those closer to the city's centre, if she'd seen them in a picture she wouldn't have batted an eye. She did however begin to feel awkward as they passed more and more Faunus on their walk. She felt like they were looking at her as though she were out of place, like they knew who she was and about her family's history with their kind.

Blake didn't take long to pick up on this, and reached over to pat her date on the shoulder. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked, getting a half nod in return. "Don't feel nervous, no-one here wants to hurt you or anything like that."

Weiss shook her head, "I know that. I just feel like everybody's staring at me because I'm not a Faunus. Not one person we've passed hasn't looked over at me. Is it that uncommon for humans to come through here? And why hasn't anyone looked at you? Your ears aren't showing."

Blake smiled, "Well, we can sort of tell who is and isn't one of us, even if we're hiding it. I know some people can tell by smell, but it's almost something I can just sense."

"Really? So, does that mean Velvet knows? And you never answered if humans ever come here."

"Yeah, she came up to me one day after lunch. And I guess it isn't that common for humans to be here, but I think you're just being paranoid. I know some people are looking over, but not everyone, and they're certainly not staring. They're probably curious why someone with an outfit as expensive as yours is in this part of town."

"I knew I should've worn something more casual," Weiss pouted, folding her arms and tucking her chin in as if that would be enough to hide herself.

"Just relax," Blake said with a comforting smile. "The diner is right around the corner."

Sure enough the building was only about twenty yards further once the rounded the corner. Weiss made sure to hold the door for Blake as they entered, not wanting to be the first one to walk in. She followed her date through the small entryway and was surprised to see how nice the restaurant looked on the inside. All of the decor was very well taken care of, but still had a sort of old fashioned look to it that seemed to be the theme. The lighting was a little dim, although it appeared to be a stylistic choice, and Weiss couldn't help but feel bad for the way she'd pictured how it would look.

They were seated in a booth near the front and given their menus, and after a moment Blake started to pick up on the tiny signals Weiss was giving off. She grinned, "Be honest, you were expecting this place to be a rundown hole in the wall, weren't you?"

"Of course not!" Weiss quickly replied, but couldn't keep the facade up for long. "Alright, I suppose I didn't think it would be this nice, but that's not my fault. I was always told that that's just what places like these would be like. I've never actually been in an all Faunus neighborhood before, I didn't really know what to expect."

"I think you'll find a lot of stereotypes aren't quite as true as you think," Blake said, still smiling. "For example, you're a rich daughter, but I haven't heard you mention your pet pony yet." Weiss stuck out her tongue, and thankfully the waiter came over before she was able to give a response.

"Good evening, ladies," the boy said with a cheerful smile. "My name's Aaron, I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"Just water for me," Blake replied.

Weiss nodded, "Same for me, but with lemon please."

"Excellent, I'll be back in just a minute." He turned and walked away, but Weiss noticed that he looked back at her before turning into the kitchen. She looked around at the rest of the waitstaff, and they too shot the occasional glance her way. Not at Blake, not at anyone else, specifically at her.

Weiss started to shrink back into the booth. "Everyone's looking at me," she said somewhat sadly. "Am I really that out of place here?"

Blake shook her head, "Of course not. Like I said, high class people hardly ever come to this part of the city. If you took me to a high end restaurant I'd be getting the same looks. Just ignore them, they're not trying to make you uncomfortable."

Weiss reluctantly nodded and turned her attention back to the menu to keep herself occupied. Their waiter came back shortly after with their drinks and took their orders before heading back to the kitchen. Blake chose a pasta with shrimp and chicken, while Weiss decided to break from her usual properness and ordered a rack of ribs. She took another look around the diner and saw that no eyes were on her anymore, which was a nice relief from the anxiety she'd been feeling from it. With that out of the way, she decided it was time to finally start treating this like a date.

She smiled and turned to Blake, "So Blake, what else should I know about you?"

"I think we've covered just about everything," the Faunus girl replied, now feeling back at Weiss. "I'd rather learn more about you. What's something I don't know about you?"

Weiss paused for a moment to think, surprised at how hard she was finding it to come up with something. "Um..." she said, at a loss for what to tell. "Well... I don't know if it's something you don't know, but, underneath all my professionalism, my sharp attitude, my 'icy exterior,' there is a Weiss that likes to just have fun. It's been a long time since she's been let it because of how I grew up, but now with you, Yang, and especially Ruby, I'm starting to find her again. It's I'm really enjoying it."

Blake looked surprised, "Wow, I wasn't expecting that at all. I'm glad to see you coming out of your shell though, you've certainly come a long way since the day I met you."

"Oh, that reminds me," Weiss interjected. "Did you know you liked me when we first met?"

"Hmm... That's a good question," Blake said with a smile. "I don't know. You gave of a pretty bitchy vibe when we spoke after Ruby blew up your Dust. I thought you were very pretty, but I don't think I saw you as girlfriend material yet."

Weiss pouted and crossed her arms, "Oh please, I wasn't... Well, I guess I was a little on edge that day, but it was mostly just nerves. Once I adjusted to being on my own I got a lot better."

They continued to chat until their food arrived, about ten minutes later. At that point the conversation completely stopped while they both dug in. Blake looked up after a minute and noticed that Weiss wasn't eating according to her usual, proper standards. She was taking large bites, not placing her silverware back in its proper place after each use, and her napkin was tucked into her blouse rather than on her lap. Blake grinned, "Happy to be somewhere low key?"

Weiss nodded through a mouthful of food, barbecue sauce smothered all over her lips. "You have no idea," she replied, wiping her mouth. "Around people I know, I need to keep up my image. I know you don't care, or any of our other friends for that matter, but for everyone else I have to act like a Schnee."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Maybe when we're out in town, but you really don't need to on campus. No one pays attention, or even cares."

"I suppose, but I'd rather not get used to not acting proper and then slip up somewhere formal. Once in a while like this won't hurt me though."

They went back to eating, and a few minutes later Weiss happened to look up and see a man in a suit walking toward them. She squinted to see what his nametag said from a distance, and felt a twinge of worry when she saw it said "Manager." She made eye contact with Blake and subtly gestured her head in his direction. Blake quickly looked over and shrugged, thinking that he probably wasn't coming for them. She turned out to be wrong, and he stopped at the table and turned to look at Blake.

"Good evening, ladies," he greeted them. "My name's Cecil, I'm the manager here, just coming by to see if your meal and service is to your liking."

Blake nodded, "Yes, everything's been excellent so far. Although, I don't think that why you really came by, is it?"

"Was it that obvious?" he asked with a smile, now turning to Weiss, who was frantically cleaning sauce off her hands and face. "Don't be alarmed, I had no ill intentions coming over here, I was simply curious as to what brought someone of your class to a place such as this. We very rarely have humans come to eat here, let alone someone from the Schnee family."

Weiss looked confused and a little worried, "How did you know my last name?"

"I recognised the symbol on your jacket. The Schnee name is, shall we say, well known in the Faunus community."

"Oh..." she said quietly. "Well, if you must know, the two of us are on a date. I wanted to keep it quiet because my family wouldn't exactly be approving if they found out, and Blake suggested we come here."

"Really?" the manager asked in a mix of shock and awe. "I must say, I'm surprised. I would never have expected that. For a Schnee, you certainly don't act like one."

Weiss smiled, "I think you'll find I'm not like the rest of my family."

"No, I suppose you're not," he replied, seeming happy at the way the conversation had turned out.

"I hate to be rude," Blake interjected. "But we are on a date."

"Of course, of course. I'll let you return to your dinner, sorry to bother you. I hope we'll see you here again."

The girls nodded politely as he walked away, and Blake couldn't stop herself from smiling once they were alone again. "You're full of surprises lately," she said, making Weiss blush. "I know it might not have seemed like much, but you probably just made his night. Having people like you even acknowledging us is a really big deal,

you being here with me like this is just... incredible."

Weiss smiled back, "I really meant what I said, I'm not like my parents at all. There more I see of how the world actually is, the more I'm realising how wrong they are. I don't know if I'm ready to say that to their faces, but still."

"Baby steps. You'll have to tell them eventually, but that doesn't have to be soon."

"Some day," Weiss replied, sounding confident about the subject for once. It still terrified her, but she knew that she'd be willing to take steps forward.

They finished eating, and Blake made sure to pick up the check. Weiss vehemently fought her on it, but Blake still refused to let her pay. They compromised at letting Weiss leave the tip, which was fairly very generous, before heading out and walking back to the airport. Weiss was surprisingly talkative on the way back, not that Blake was complaining, and it seemed like their date had gone far better than either one had expected. It wasn't until they were back on campus that they started to quiet down, mostly not to draw attention to how they were acting toward each other. They arrived back at the dorms and stopped outside their door.

Blake smiled, "Well, I guess that's the end of our date. What'd you think?"

Weiss blushed, "That was actually a lot of fun, I'm glad we did this."

"Yeah, me too," Blake said, starting to feel a little giddy. "So, not to be blunt, but... have you figured out how you feel yet?"

"I... Well... I'm not sure. I feel like I want to like you in that way, but... I don't know, there's something that just... I can't really explain it, but it feels like there's something missing." In Weiss' mind that something seemed to be related to not having been in a relationship before. There were still unanswered questions she had about liking girls, and boys, and she wasn't exactly sure how to resolve that feeling. Her date on the other hand took it to mean something else.

Blake giggled, "I think I can fix that."

Weiss gave her a confused look before she saw what the the Faunus girl meant, or rather what Blake thought she was hinting at. Blake started to lean in, taking her hands and resting them on either side of the heiress' waist. Their lips met in a soft and tender kiss, sending a shiver of pleasure down Blake's spine. She waited a moment to see how Weiss would react, but the heiress stood frozen, her nerves getting the better of her. Not meeting any resistance, Blake brought her right hand up and cupped Weiss' cheek, deepening the kiss. Weiss finally responded to the action by kissing back, and running her hands up the length of the Faunus girl's back. Taking that as a sign to keep going, Blake suddenly pushed Weiss up against the wall and added her tongue up the embrace, hungrily exploring the heiress' mouth.

There was a sudden laugh from down the hall, and both girls froze as they realised someone was coming. They broke the kiss and locked eyes, neither one able to move, hoping that whoever was coming wouldn't see them. It was obvious by the placement of their hands, the closeness of their faces, and their heavy breathing as to what they'd been doing, and they wouldn't be able to hide it even if they tried. Luckily, the group of people going past didn't turn down this hall, and walked by without taking notice of them. The two awkwardly separated and fixed their hair before turning back to each other with red cheeks.

"Wow... Not what I meant, but it works... I've never done that before," Weiss said with a goofy smile that seemed more appropriate to be worn by Ruby.

Blake grinned, "What, kiss a girl?"

"Um, well... anyone, actually."

"Wait, really? I'm your first kiss?" Blake asked in disbelief, receiving a shy nod. "Oh, I uh... I didn't-"

"Shhh," Weiss interrupted, putting two fingers over Blake's lips to keep her from continuing. "It was wonderful. Besides, it finally gave me an answer for how I feel about you."

Blake's heart rate skyrocketed at the statement. She knew what the answer would be, there was no way it could be anything else with what had just happened, and now she tried to compose herself so she could do something she'd wanted to do for weeks. "A-Alright, well, I have something I need to ask you then," she said with a smile, taking the heiress' hands and looking hopefully into her eyes. "Weiss, will-"

"Blake, wait," Weiss interrupted, a sad look coming over her face. "I know what you want to ask and believe me, I want to say yes, but... I can't..."

"Wha...?" Blake asked in disbelief, her smile gone in an instant. "I-I don't understand, what's wrong?"

Weiss could see the look of heartbreak in Blake's eyes, and it was killing her to not do what her own heart wanted, but she couldn't do it. She sighed and turned her gaze to the floor, "Blake, you have to understand that if we were ever in a relationship, it could never be public. My father would disown me if he ever found out. I know you think I'm joking, but I'm not, he would truly disown me. Either that or pull me from Beacon. Coming out publicly like this... I'm not ready for what the consequences will be. And not to mention you being a Faunus... Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with it whatsoever, I actually think your ears are kind of cute, but again... if my father ever found out... it would bad. Really bad. I'm so sorry... I want to, but I can't."

"So... it's a no then?" Blake asked for confirmation through watering eyes, her grip on the heiress' hand tightening without realising it. She felt almost cheated in a way. Everything had gone perfectly, almost too perfectly, and now this seemed to be the reason why. She had let herself get her hopes so high, only it seemed to have them come crashing down all that much harder.

"I'm not saying no," Weiss answered shakily, feeling on the verge of tears herself. "I'm saying not yet. Believe me, I want this to happen, but... it just can't, not yet at least."

"A-Alright," Blake replied in a weak voice. She turned her eyes to the ground and released her grip on Weiss' hands, letting hers fall to her side. "I understand, I'm glad you at least had fun today."

Weiss gave a small smile, "I did, I truly did. Thank you, for everything." She leaned in and gave Blake a quick peck on the lips, making the raven-haired girl blush and finally return her smile. "Come on, let's go inside."

"Y-Yeah, alright," Blake said, trying to hide her sadness and doing a miserable job of it.

' _Not yet? What does that even mean? I want you, you want me, but... No, I should respect her choice, she's right that it could get her into trouble, I just... I almost wish she'd turned me down. A straight no would be better than a maybe later... Whatever, it's over and done now, it's time to move on. Clearly there's no progress to be made here, at least not in the near future. I can't stay hung up on her, I gave it everything and it failed. Maybe she's right, in the future there could be something, but that's not the case now, and I think it's time I finally focus on what is here right now..._ '

 **Uh oh, sounds like things are about to get complicated...**

 **Looking for more? Like a smutty alternate ending because why not? (Out this weekend) Become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :)**

 **Thank you to my awesome Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski  
** **Kenseilon  
** **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best ❤️**


	6. End of the Chase

**For early chapters, alternate endings, extra one-shots, and more, become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :) Enjoy!**

Chapter 6: End of the Chase

In the days following their date, Weiss and Blake's friends did their best to not cause tension between the two. They expected the pair, especially Blake, to be either resentful or feel awkward toward the other, and wanted to avoid making a conflict. Weiss seemed a little down as the team went through its weekly routine, but nothing more than what they'd expected. Her friends weren't quite as worried about her though, since she was the one who had decided the relationship wouldn't work out. The real concern was for how Blake was handling things. At first the Faunus girl was a little depressed, but almost immediately that turned around. To everyone's surprise, Blake seemed to be taking things better than Weiss.

The rest of team RWBY and JNPR were amazed at how calm, and even how happy she seemed. It was as if nothing had happened, and no one could believe she were truly as okay as she seemed. With how she'd been in weeks prior, this kind of behaviour seemed unimaginable, leaving Ruby wondering if there was something Blake wasn't telling them. She wondered if maybe the two had lied, and were actually dating in secret, but that didn't seem right. She considered that maybe Blake had finally gotten over Weiss, but that seemed just as unlikely. She didn't want to cause trouble if Blake was really doing this well, but as team leader she needed to know for sure that her teammates were all alright.

Today was Friday, so teams split up for their chosen electives after their morning lectures. After that they'd meet back up for combat training later on in the after. Yang had signed up for an extra conditioning class, Weiss chose a history lecture, and Ruby and Blake were on their way to a Dust theory class. The two were walking toward the classroom, and now that they were alone, Ruby decided it was time to talk to Blake about what was going on in her head.

"Hey Blake, can I ask you something?" the redhead asked nonchalantly.

"Of course," Blake replied, not sure why Ruby wanted permission. "What's up?"

"Um... Well, I was just wondering how you're holding up. We all thought you'd be a little more... upset after your date. Not that we want you to be upset or anything, but I'm just worried that you're holding in feelings that should be let out."

' _Yup, I knew this was coming,_ ' Blake thought with a smile. ' _I've gotta admit, I'm surprised I've held up this will too._ '

The Faunus girl gave a light shrug as to not drop the books under her arm, "I didn't expect to handle it well either, but I think I'm actually okay. I'm sure you guys think I'm keeping my emotions bottled up to try to look okay, but I promise you I'm not. I realised that I can't keep waiting for Weiss, I have to move on."

Ruby gave a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry things didn't work out. Does that mean you're not looking to go out with her in the future?"

"I'm... I'm not sure," Blake said, not looking too sure of herself. That was something that was still on her mind, but that she wished weren't. "I don't know if I can put myself through that again, sitting and waiting for her to maybe say yes. You saw the way I was acting. It was hurting me, it was hurting the team, and I can't do that again. I made you a promise that I wouldn't let this affect the team if things didn't go well, and I will keep that promise."

"I understand, that's very mature of you," the leader said, putting her hand on Blake's shoulder as they continued to walk. "But you didn't answer me. If she asked you out in the future, would you say yes?"

Blake chuckled and nodded, "In a heartbeat, but we both know that won't happen. Don't get me wrong, I hope it does, but I think I'm better off exploring the options available to me now than sitting back and hoping that moment comes."

"Oooo," Ruby said with an amused grin. "So you're looking at other girls already? Didn't peg you as that kind of girl."

Blake rolled her eyes, "I never said I was actively looking. But, if someone I liked were to ask me on a date, I probably wouldn't say no."

"Interesting... Maybe I could help set that up?" Ruby enthusiastically asked. "Any girls you've got your eye on?"

Blake blushed, "You're something else. And why do you keep saying girls? I'm bi, remember?"

"Oh, right... WAIT! If you're making sure to point that out, that means there's definitely a boy. Am I right?"

' _Damn it, Ruby, why are you so good at reading me?_ '

"Maaaybe," Blake replied, innocently turning her eyes to the sky to watch the clouds. "So what if there is?"

Ruby's hands flew to her cheeks as she gasped in delight, doing a little jump for joy. "That's awesome! Who is it? I'll set you guys up on the best-"

"Ruby, you don't have to," Blake interrupted, laughing at her leader's eagerness. "I'm perfectly fine letting things happen on their own."

The redhead pouted, "Fine. Can you at least tell me who it is?"

"Do I really need to?" Blake asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Ruby looked confused for a moment, but that didn't last for long. Once she thought it over for a second she felt dumb for even having to ask. "Oh, duh," she said with a goofy smile. "Totally forgot about Sun. I'll see if he- nope, nope, not gonna tell him."

Blake groaned, "Why did I even say anything?"

"Relax, I can keep a secret. Don't let Yang tell you any different!"

"Please, Ruby? I don't wanna hurt anyone else's feelings. Yes, I do like Sun, but think of how Weiss would feel if Sun and I started dating this soon."

Ruby shrugged, "If she turned you down then I don't see why it matters."

"You're not helping," Blake said with an unamused look. She walked ahead and held the door for her

leader as they arrived at the building and started down the hall to the classroom. "And besides, aren't you a little young to be giving me dating advice?"

"Nuh uh," Ruby replied, sticking out her tongue.

Blake smirked, "I rest my case."

"Alright, alright, but I still think you should go for it. He's a really sweet guy, if you like him then you should go after him before someone else does."

' _She's not wrong,_ ' the Faunus girl thought as they turned into the classroom and took their seats at the centremost desks. ' _Maybe I should... I mean, I don't wanna hurt Weiss, but Ruby does have a point. Weiss said no, so she doesn't have a say._ '

Blake smiled and turned to Ruby, "Alright, I think I'll say something."

Her leader smiled back before facing forward as their professor walked in. The lecture got underway, but Blake wasn't able to pay attention at all. Something was on her mind that she wished weren't, but nonetheless it was. ' _I'm not over Weiss..._ ' Blake thought, almost angry with herself that it was true. ' _Why? Why can't I let her go? I have to move on, I have to... But... is Ruby right? Should I go after Sun? I don't wanna hurt Weiss, but... I don't know, I don't know! Why does this have to be so complicated? If she'd just given a straight yes or no... You know what? Ruby's right, I shouldn't let someone like Sun get away because I'm so hung up over Weiss. That settles it, I'll find him after class._ '

She did her best to pay attention for the rest of the lecture, but only managed to get a scattered series of notes down before the bell rang and class ended. She and Ruby started back toward the dorm, but about halfway there she spied the building Sun's current class was in a few blocks down. "Hey, gonna go wait for Sun," she said, motioning toward the building.

Ruby smiled, "Have fun! I hope things work out."

The two split off, and Blake started toward Sun's classroom. ' _So... what should I say to him?_ ' she wondered as she walked. ' _I mean, I never had the intention of asking him out here, that's a little too rushed... I guess I'll just ask him to hang out, maybe go somewhere and chat, get lunch or something. Do I want it to be a date though? It's not like I need to get to know him much more, and it's clear we both already like each other. He'll probably see it as a date either way... Maybe he'll ask me out... Would I say yes if he did...? I-_ '

"Hey Blake!" a familiar vice called it from behind, bringing Blake out of her thoughts. She spun around to see Pyrrha jogging to catch up to her, looking more smiley than usual. "How're you? We haven't really talked much since the dance."

"Hi Pyrrha. I'm doing alright, how about you?"

The gladiator beamed, "I'm wonderful! You'll never guess what happened last night!"

"I bet I can," Blake said with a grin. "Does it have something to do Jaune?"

"Mhm! He finally asked me out! We're officially a couple!"

Blake gasped in excitement and smiled, "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! How'd it happen?"

"He asked me while we were training on the roof," Pyrrha said, looking up at the sky as she got lost in thought. "After he didn't make a move when I kissed him at the dance, I thought it was a lost cause. But he finally did!"

"That's so great! I'm glad he finally asked you, you guys were practically made for each other."

Pyrrha smiled, "Thanks! So... how've you been holding up? I sort of feel bad talking about Jaune and I after the way your date went."

"Don't worry, it's fine," Blake replied. "I'm doing pretty well, a lot better than I thought I would be."

"Good! I'm glad to hear that. Do you think you're starting to get over her now?"

Blake's pace slowed for a few steps while the question worked through her head. She sighed, "I think so. I hope so. Who knows? With any luck I might find someone I like even more."

"Is that so?" Pyrrha asked with a sly smile. "I get the feeling you wouldn't say that if there weren't someone in mind."

Blake shrugged, "Well, yes and no. Ruby was telling me I should talk to Sun, but I'm not exactly sure what to say. I don't know if I'm ready to try for a relationship again this soon, but at the same time I don't wanna miss out on someone like him because I'm so hung up on Weiss."

"Sounds just like Jaune when he was going after Weiss. I suppose it's a little different since Weiss actually likes you back."

"Yeah, I guess so," Blake laughed. "Does that mean you'll tell me to go for Sun too?"

Pyrrha looked up and tilted her head back and forth to the side while she thought. "Well, not necessarily. If Weiss had liked Jaune back, I wouldn't have gotten in the way, no matter how much I liked him. She does like you though, and I'm sure Sun would understand if you said you wanted to wait for her."

"Huh, I hadn't really thought about that. I guess the question then is whether I'm willing to wait for her. And it seems like I'm really committing to whichever choice I make. I don't think Sun would be too happy if I came back to him after a month and said that I'd changed my mind."

Pyrrha laughed, "Yeah, probably not. Hey, this is where my class is, I'll talk to you later!"

"See ya!" Blake waved goodbye as Pyrrha parted off toward her class, and took a deep breath.

' _Alright Blake, time to make a decision. Do I wait, or do I not? I think either way I should still wait inside for Sun so we can talk, but I need to make a choice by then._ ' She sighed and continued her walk. ' _I really don't know anymore..._ '

Meanwhile, Ruby had already made her way back to the dorm. She arrived find Yang sprawled lazily on her bed, and Weiss slumped over at her desk with a sad, distracted look. "Weiss? Everything okay?" the caped girl asked as she put away her supplies.

The heiress sighed, "I think I made a mistake..."

"Whatdya mean? Did something happen in class today?"

"No, that's not what I mean," Weiss said with a bit of a bite in her voice. "I mean with Blake..."

Yang immediately perked up after hearing the comment. She grinned, "Oooo, go on."

"Shut up," the heiress snapped, clearly not in the mood for Yang's sarcasm. She stood up and pressed her hand against her forehead before letting out a long, drawn out breath. "I shouldn't have told her no..."

She walked over to her bed and sat down, looking over at Ruby and Yang for some comforting words. Her leader smiled, "You really like her, don't you?"

"Of course I like her! She... She's amazing. It's just that I'm afraid about what will happen if we go out... But at the same time, I can't imagine losing her to someone else because I want to wait."

Yang gave a sympathetic smile, "So, are you thinking about giving it a try?"

"I don't know," Weiss replied, then buried her face in her hands. "I've been thinking about it a lot, but I still can't bring myself to choose either way... But, it's not like I need to decide right now. She wouldn't start dating someone this soon... would she?"

Yang shrugged and turned to Ruby, who was looking down at the floor had taken a few steps back. "Sis? What's wrong?" the blonde asked.

Ruby nervously laughed and started scratching her head, "Weeeell... I may have suggested that she... um... ask Sun out."

"You WHAT?" Weiss yelled, jumping to her feet in anger. Her striker emotions were finally making their way to the surface, and her teammates had greatly underestimated how strong they were. "You dolt! Why would you do something like that?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know how strongly you felt about her. Besides, it seemed like a good idea since you turned her down." Ruby felt bad for not having paid more attention. All this time she'd been keeping an eye on Blake to see if she'd been holding in her feelings, when in reality it was Weiss who had been hiding how badly she was hurting.

The anger in Weiss' eyes burned about as intensely as Yang's fire as she spoke, "I DIDN'T TURN HER DOWN! I said I wanted to wait!"

"She might not see the difference," Yang cut in, trying to divert some of the heiress' frustration away from her sister. "I know you wanna wait for her, but that doesn't mean she'll wait that long for you. If she thinks that it could be a really long time before you'd be able to start dating, then of course she'll look for someone else!"

Weiss started to say something, but she knew that Yang was right. "But... but..." she said quietly, looking almost defeated in a way. "I thought she really liked me... Why would she look for someone else so soon then?"

Ruby smiled, "She does like you, a lot more than you realise. She made a promise that she'd move on if you said no, which is why she's even considering going after Sun. With the way she was acting the past couple weeks, I told her she couldn't let herself get that way again. It was unhealthy for all of us, especially her. I know you don't want to lose her, but if you keep her waiting like this, then she might start acting all depressed again, and we can't let that happen."

Yang nodded, "She's right. If you want something to happen between you two, then it has to happen now. She's not gonna wait, and I know for a fact that once Sun gets a hold of her, he's not gonna let go."

"Yeah, I suppose not," Weiss said with a small laugh, for once actually finding some level of comfort in Yang's sense of humour. "But... I still don't know if I'm ready..."

"Well, do you love her?" Ruby asked.

"Excuse me?" Weiss asked back in surprise. "It's a little early for that, didn't you think?"

Her leader shrugged, "Well, maybe to say it out loud, but you know what I mean. Do you love her?"

"I-I... I don't know. I've never really been in love before, I can't tell you what it feels like."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Alright, then I'll rephrase: Can you see the two of you being together for a long time? I don't just mean for the rest of the year, or even the rest of our time at Beacon. Can you picture both of you still being together after we graduate? Beyond that?"

' _I haven't actually thought about that before..._ ' Weiss pondered. ' _Can I imagine us together that far in the future? Well, assuming my father doesn't kill me first... Can I see us having a life together? Do I like her that much that I'd be willing to try? That I'd risk what my father will do when he finds out? If that's what being in love feels like..._ '

The heiress smiled as she looked up at her teammates, not doubting her answer in the slightest. "Yeah, I can."

Yang and Ruby exchanged a look before smiling back and pulling Weiss into a group hug. "Then you'd better go after her," Yang said. "I mean, like, right now."

Ruby nodded, "She's right, Blake's waiting for Sun's class to let out right now."

"WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Weiss asked with wide eyes. "Where's Sun's class at?"

"It's in Greystone Hall, room two thirteen I think."

"Two thirteen, Greystone Hall," Weiss repeated. "Got it, thanks!" With that, she sprinted out of the room and down the hall, not wanting to waste any time. She pulled out her scroll to check the time, and was relieved to see she had another ten minutes before the class would let out. Still, she didn't slow her pace as she dashed out of the dorms and down the path toward Blake.

' _How do I start this conversation?_ ' she wondered as she got closer. ' _Should I make sure she's still interested? Lead into it? Just come right out and say it?_ ' She threw open the doors to the hall and ran up the stairs, looking around for directions the desired room. She sped down the hall and turned the corner to find Blake sitting by the classroom door, reading a book while she waited.

The Faunus girl look up after hearing the heavy footsteps of someone running, and was surprised to see Weiss sprinting toward her. "Weiss?" she asked, setting her book down and standing back up. "What're you-?"

Weiss ran up before Blake could finish, and let her head take control of how to tell how she felt. She put one hand on Blake's waist, and the other on the girl's head and pulled them into a long, passionate kiss. She'd been trying to think of the right words to say, but there weren't any she could use to convey this level of emotion. Blake flinched in surprise at first, but didn't fight the embrace. She put her arms around Weiss' shoulders and kissed her back, feeling a rush of confusion, anxiety, but above all; happiness.

Weiss blushed as she finally pulled her lips away, "So uh... I guess I've got some explaining to do."

"Yes, yes you do," Blake replied with an equally red face.

"Blake, I've thought about us being together, and about us not being together. I've realised that I can't stand the thought of you being with someone else."

The Faunus girl gave her a sceptical look, "Well, it's not really up to you whether or not I can date someone else. I want to wait for you, I really do, but I just can't. You saw the way I was acting, it's not fair to our team. And besides, I-"

"Let me finish," Weiss cut in, not liking where that conversation was headed. "I know you can't wait for me, and that's why I ran here before I lost you to Sun. I like you, a lot, and the only thing keeping me from you is what will happen when my father find out about us. But do you know what? I don't care. I don't care about what he'll say, how he'll feel. I care about you way too much to let him decide whether or not we can be together."

"Weiss..." Blake said slowly, feeling her heart rate accelerating rapidly. She felt the same anxiousness as the night of their date, as the moment she thought they'd become a couple, and she was afraid to let her hopes up again. "Weiss, what are you saying?"

The heiress smiled and blushed even harder before reaching over and taking Blake's hand, "Blake... will you be my girlfriend?"

"W-Would we be able to be public about it?" the Faunus girl asked, shaking with a mix of joy and terror. She wanted to say yes so badly, but she needed to know this first. Her fear came from how she knew she'd feel if the relationship had to be secret. That was a deal breaker, and she hoped it wouldn't come to that. She wasn't sure if she could handle another rejection.

Weiss nodded, "We can work up to it. I'd be hesitant about being in a public relationship with anyone, the fact that it's you just makes it all the more nerve racking. I promise we'll tell my father, that we'll be public, but just not right away. We'll let our friends know, and once we get comfortable we'll-"

"We?" Blake interrupted with a smirk.

Weiss glared at her, "Fine, once I get comfortable then we can start being open about it, and eventually tell my father. I know it's not ideal, but... would you be okay with that?"

Blake smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I would be. I know this is hard for you, I don't expect you to adjust to everything over night, or to be willing to face your father about a subject like this so soon. I don't mind waiting if you're willing to take steps in the right direction."

"I am, I swear I am. So... will you? Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Y-Yes! Yes, yes, a hundred times yes!" Blake exclaimed before pulling Weiss' lips back to hers, overcome by the joy she felt from finally getting the answer she had so desperately wanted. "I-I can't believe it!"

Weiss blushed, "Well, believe it, because it really happened. I can't even tell you how happy I am right now."

"I bet it's about as happy as I am. I'm so glad you changed your mind about waiting, I don't know if I would've been able to."

"Yeah, I know," Weiss said sadly, her face falling dramatically. "Ruby told me you were waiting here to ask Sun out."

Blake's eyes popped open, "What? No no no, that's not what I was gonna do at all."

Weiss glared and put her hands on her hips, "You shouldn't lie this early in a relationship. She told myself and Yang about your conversation, I know that's why you're here."

"Weiss, I promise I wasn't gonna ask ask him out. I just wanted to talk, that's all. The possibly of he and I getting together is something I'd been thinking about, but I wasn't about to make a move right here and now."

"Really?" the heiress asked, not seeming to believe the explanation. "What if he had?"

Blake frowned, "Do we really have to talk about this now?"

"You're right, I'm sorry. I just don't like to think that I could've lost you by making you wait. Especially if it would've been this soon."

"Neither do I," the Faunus girl replied. "I had to ask myself if I was willing to pass up Sun to wait for you. I hadn't really come up with an answer, but I'm glad you came here before I did."

"You wouldn't have chosen me... would you?" Weiss asked sadly. She looked down at the floor and started fidgeting with her hands, regretting that she asked that question.

Blake smiled and cupped Weiss' face, pulling the girl's gaze to meet her own. "Weiss, I promise I-"

"Don't answer that," Weiss interrupted, smiling back. "I wouldn't blame you if you would've. Now, let's talk about something else, like what we should do now that we're officially a couple."

"Sounds like a plan. Should we start by telling our friends the good news?"

The heiress shrugged, "Well... alright. But just us and JNPR for now, okay?"

"What about Sun? He should know why I'm turning him down."

"I suppose that's fair. So just us, JNPR, and SSSN for now, okay?"

"Sounds good," Blake replied, happy to hear that Weiss seemed to be serious about letting other people know about them. "Let's get back to the room then. I'm sure Ruby and Yang are eager to hear what happened."

 **Hi guys! Sorry this one took so long, but really life happens. :P Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and now some of the more fun chapters can begin! Also, be on her lookout this week for a short epilogue for "A Neo Outlook on Life." It'll give some updates on stuff and tie it into the upcoming sequel.**

 **Thank you to my awesome Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best ❤️**


	7. Inner and Outer Battles

**I think it's time to shake things up from all this romance. How about a little action? ;)**

Chapter 7: Inner and Outer Battles

"OH MY GOD THAT'S AMAZING!" Nora yelled in excitement, her voice loud and high pitched enough to turn nearly every head in the dining hall to her table. Her teammates had their heads in their hands in response, Yang and Ruby laughed, and Weiss and Blake both turned a deep shade of red. She giggled as she calmed down, "Oh, right, we're being subtle about it."

Weiss set her fork down and sighed, "I give it a week until my father finds out."

"Don't worry," Ren said, putting his hand on Nora's shoulder and giving her a stern look. "I'll keep her under control."

Yang smirked, "Yeah, I bet you will." She made a few quick, lewd gestures with her hands to get across the other meaning of her joke, earning a number of unamused stares.

"Don't be rude. And gross, we're eating," her sister scolded before turning to Weiss and Blake. "I'm glad you two worked things out. And I'm even more glad you didn't take my advice and ask Sun out, you and Weiss make a much cuter couple."

Blake blushed, "Thanks? That's definitely not something I ever expected to hear."

"Why do you say that?" Pyrrha asked. "I know things didn't always look bright, but I've had a feeling since the start that I'd all turn out well in the end."

Weiss' face darkened at the comment, "Well, we're not exactly at the end yet. If we manage to convince my father to let us stay together, then it'll have all gone well. I think that's a lot easier said than done."

"Don't worry about that right now," Blake said with a comforting smile. She put her arm around the heiress' shoulders and pulled her in close, sneaking a quick, stubble kiss on the cheek. "Let's just worry about us, okay?"

Weiss gave a shy nod, "I suppose you're right. So what's left on the agenda today?"

"Just combat training with Professor Goodwitch," Ruby enthusiastically replied. "It's team sparring today, so it should be awesome! Maybe we'll finally get match up against JNPR."

Jaune grinned, "I hope you're ready to lose then."

They finished lunch and made their way to class, and unfortunately they weren't paired up to fight. Team JNPR's match was one of the first of the day, and they were paired against team XERO. It wasn't much of a competition with Pyrrha able to fight three of them at once, but nonetheless was still a good match for everyone to watch. Professor Goodwitch declared them the winner and allowed them to return to their seats before looking down at her scroll to decide who would go next. "Our next match will be... let's see..." she said, looking over the list of teams. "Team RWBY vs. Team DASH. Ruby, your team has been performing extraordinarily well, so I'm matching you against a second year team as a test. Dennis, don't underestimate these girls."

Both teams nodded and stood up, giving Weiss a chance to look over at her opponents. The one boy looked like a stereotypical cowboy. he wore a duster, cowboy hat, spurs on his boots, and had a thick five o'clock shadow despite it being one in the afternoon. He had scruffy, white hair and black sunglasses, and appeared to be carrying two revolvers. Next to him was a boy with a long, blonde ponytail. Nothing about him seemed particularly remarkable, apart from the large, curved sword at his side. Last was a rather tall boy with shoulder-length black hair who also wore cowboy boots, only without the spurs. Weiss could see a number of throwing knives tucked in his leather jacket, along with two daggers and a small shield. She looked around, but couldn't see a fourth teammate with them.

The cowboy, who Weiss assumed to be Dennis, spoke up, "Harley is out sick today, ma'am. Maybe they should fight someone else?"

"That's a shame. No matter though, we'll make this a handicap match," Professor Goodwitch replied. Dennis nodded, and both teams made their way into the arena. "Is everyone familiar with the rules of a handicap match?"

"Of course," Weiss answered. "Instead of having to take our auras to twenty percent like in a normal match, team DASH will only have to take each of us to forty percent. That way each member of each team is still required to deal an average of eighty percent damage to the other team."

"Very good. Shake hands and take your sides, and I'll begin the match when you're ready."

The two teams met in the middle of the arena, and went around shaking hands and introducing each other. "Hello! I'm Ruby," the leader happily greeted them. "This is Weiss, Blake, and my sister, Yang."

Dennis smiled, "Nice to meet you, darlin'. I'm Dennis. This is Andrilon and Shadow. Harley is back at the room like I said."

"Darlin'?" Yang asked with a sceptical expression. "I hope you're not hitting on my sister. I'd have to beat you extra hard then."

"Don't worry," Andrilon said. "That's usually Shadow's territory."

Shadow grinned and looked at Yang, "Eh, she's not really my type. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at you though, Sweet Cheeks. How would you feel about-?"

"That's quite enough," Dennis cut in, rolling his eyes. "Good luck, ladies." The teams separated and took their spots, waiting for the match to start. Glynda looked at them both before calling the start of the match, and things kicked off right from the start.

Yang immediately charged forward and aimed a punch at Shadow for his earlier comments. He smiled and ran forward to meet her, but stepped aside when she got close. Yang completely missed, aiming where he'd been standing before, then looking around in confusion. "Where'd he go?" she asked.

Ruby gave an equally confused look in return, "What do you mean? He's right there!"

Yang spun around but didn't seem to see him at all. He called walked over and dealt a quick series of punches that sent Yang to the ground. Weiss ran forward to help her teammate, but then Shadow vanished from her sight. She gasped, "Careful! His semblance is selective invisibility! He can be invisible to one person at a time. He-"

She was cut off when Ruby ran in front of her and seemed to connect a kick with nothing, but Weiss knew she had. "Yang, Weiss, freezerburn!" her leader called out. Weiss immediately made a patch of ice at her feet before jumping so Yang could shatter it into a mist. Weiss still couldn't see Shadow, but could now see the mist moving around him. "Blake, stay with me. We need two people to fight him. Yang, you take Andrilon. Weiss, you're on Dennis."

The heiress nodded and looked up to see her opponent disappear into a cloud of sand-like dust. She spun around in time to block the swing of a dagger that seemed to be the alternate form of his pistol. She slashed at his legs and made him jump away, but that proved to have been a mistake. He pulled the other revolver from its holster as he landed and transformed his dagger back before firing twelve shots before Weiss could blink. She made a defensive glyph to shield herself from the barrage, but the force of the bullets hitting it was still enough to send her flying backwards.

Dennis looked over to his partner, "Andrilon, dust devil!" He teleported over to block a punch from Yang after giving the order, once again leaving a cloud of dust behind. Andrilon nodded and held out his hand, creating a wall out of his aura and pushing it toward the dust cloud, and also Weiss. She leapt out of the way and looked back to see the cloud had formed into a mini tornado. The sand flew throughout the arena, irritating her eyes and also clearing the fog she and Yang had made.

With Yang occupied, Andrilon now turned his attention to Weiss. He ran forward and swung a heavy, overhead blow that she easily dodged, and quickly moved in to counter. She aimed for his side, but was blocked by another wall of his aura. With a quick spin he slammed the aura shield into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and staggering her back. She quickly made a glyph at her feet and launched herself into the air, making another to land on to be out of range while she caught her breath. She looked down and saw that Andrilon had made a series of steps with his aura and was ascending them toward her.

Blake caught this out of the corner of her eye and switched Gambol Shroud to its gun form to take a few distracting shots so Weiss could get down safely. The boy tried to make another shield to block them, but couldn't maintain both it and the platform at his feet, and he fell to the ground. Blake noticed he seemed to be limping a little on his left leg as he got up, even though he hadn't really fallen on it, and guessed that some previous injury had left it weak. She wanted to go over and help, but with the fog gone Ruby needed her here to fight Shadow. "Weiss!" she called out before returning her attention to blocking the invisible boy. "Go for his leg!"

The heiress nodded and went to move in, but a loud thud to her left caught her attention first. To turned to see Yang laying awkwardly on the ground, and Dennis standing over her with his daggers in hand. "Miss Xaio-Long has been eliminated," Professor Goodwitch announced from the sideline. Dennis immediately left her and charged toward Weiss, who had already ran to Andrilon. She looked back and made an ice glyph at Dennis' feet in response; hopefully to hold him in place for enough time to deal with his partner.

With her new strategy in mind, she made another glyph to make the ground under Androlin's feet icy enough to slip on, and flew forward to engage him. He did his best to block her swings, but the size of his sword made it all but impossible to stay balanced on the ice while he moved it. There were several openings Weiss could've taken to possibly take him out, but she wanted to wait for the perfect one to take advantage of. She knew she'd be in serious trouble if she didn't eliminate him before Dennis broke free. That said, Dennis was still able to fire his pistols at her while he tried to escape, which didn't make things any easier for her. At last she saw an opening, and dove in with the help of surgery glyph to connect a nasty slice across his bad leg.

"Mister Ethiene has been eliminated," Glynda yelled as he hit the ground, and now Weiss could focus on the boy behind her.

He still appeared to be stuck, so she sprinted over with the thought of quickly knocking him out in mind. He waited until she was too close and moving to fast to stop before teleporting out of the trap. Weiss went straight threw the empty space and cloud of dust, landing on her side and causing Myrtenaster to flew from her hand. She coughed a few times and looked up to see Dennis closing in on her, and cursed under her breath when she realised she wouldn't be able to get to her rapier in time.

"Mister Sonic has been eliminated," Goodwitch said, turning both Weiss and Dennis' attention to the other fight that had been going on. Shadow was down on one knee, his aura showing in the red, but Weiss noticed that both Blake and Ruby's were getting dangerously close to forty percent.

Weiss took this time to grab her sword and get up before Dennis could reach her, although he was more focused on her teammates now. He unloaded another two cylinders of ammo at Ruby before switching his guns to daggers and teleporting. Blake tried to intervene since Ruby was still attempting to block the bullets as he appeared behind her, but was slightly too late. She glanced one of the daggers off Gambol Shroud, but the other caught Ruby square in the ribs. Her aura absorbed the entirety of the blow, but fell far below twenty percent.

"Miss Rose is eliminated," Glynda yelled quickly, almost sounding quotes from how far the girl's aura had fallen. Ruby rolled off to the side and gave a thumbs-up as she got to her feet though, letting everyone breathe a sigh of relief. That left Blake and Weiss to deal with only Dennis, but that didn't mean it would be easy. Weiss looked up at the screen above the arena to check everyone's aura levels, and didn't like what she saw. Her aura was at sixty-three percent, while Blake's was barely hovering at forty-eight percent. Dennis' aura on the other hand was still at ninety-four percent.

Blake jumped away from the boy and over to Weiss, who looked a little nervous. "Weiss? You okay?" she asked, getting a nod in return. "Alright, it's just us. Got any ideas?"

The heiress shook her head, "Not really. He's fast, strong, and can teleport. Start with checkmate and see what happens?"

Dennis started running at them before Blake could answer, so her running in front had to suffice. Weiss made a bronze-coloured glyph at her girlfriend's feet as Dennis raised his guns, and this time they were completely ready to block the bullets. He fired another twelve shots, and Blake had no trouble slashing them out of the air with the help of Weiss' aura. She directed another few at Dennis as he got closer, forcing him to break off and try another approach. He teleported to Weiss and landed a hard kick on her back, but Blake intervened before he could attack with his daggers. She used her semblance to blink around him and land a few good hits until he managed to duck and knock her away. Her aura was only at forty-two percent now, so she had to get behind Weiss to keep away from another hit that would put her out.

"Any ideas?" The heiress asked, readying her sword to party if they would be charged.

"Just one," the Faunus girl said in a low voice. "Get him to teleport over here, I think I can hit him hard." Weiss nodded and created another ice glyph under Dennis, then returned to her defensive stance while Blake readied her sword and started to run forward. Dennis fired another barrage at her, which Weiss leapt forward to block, before teleporting to her immediate left. Blake had been watching his eyes until then though, and blinked herself as she saw him start to go up in sand, swinging her arm up as she did so. They both arrived in almost the same spot at the same time, but it was Blake who was poised to strike. Her swing connected with his stomach, winding gin and giving Weiss the chance to attack with her. Both girls reared back and simultaneously planted a kick on his chest, and Weiss finished the combo by plunging Myrtenaster into the ground and sending a line of ice spikes to deliver one more hit once Dennis hit the ground.

"And that's the match!" Professor Goodwitch called out. "Team RWBY is the winner!" Weiss and Blake turned to each other with wide smiles and came together for a hug. Blake almost went in for a kiss, but then remembered where they were standing. The two awkwardly separated and turned to their teammates, both of whom looked rather amused by the display.

Yang smirked, "Oh get a room. Not ours though, even I'm not that rude."

"Shut up!" Weiss snapped, turning a bright shade of red. "That's not funny! People could hear you!"

"Just relax," Blake said in a soothing tone. "Nobody can you hear from here. Besides, we-"

"Excuse me, ma'am," Dennis interrupted as he and his teammates walked over. "That was a damn good fight. Hope we can fight y'all again when Harley is back."

Shadow nodded, "I'd especially like a rematch with you two. You make a good pair, would've almost sworn you were a couple from that hug."

"Knock it off," Andrilon hissed, lightly elbowing his teammate in the ribs. "Sorry, Miss Schnee, he's a bit of a smartass."

Weiss smiled, "No need to be so formal, just call me Weiss. And it's alright, I'm getting used to it with Blondie over there as a teammate." Everyone laughed, and the two teams shook hands again and returned to their seats. The next match was called as they sat down, but Weiss was thinking too hard about Shadow's comment to pay attention.

' _Are we really coming across as a couple this quickly?_ ' she wondered, feeling a little worried. ' _Neither one of us is too overly affectionate, we should probably just watch out when we do things like that hug. I was too happy from winning to care who saw, and I'm sure Blake was as well. I'll have to be more careful from now on, at least until we're ready to come out... Gah! Why can't I just have a normal father? I don't want to wait like this..._ '

"Yang, will you knock it off?" Ruby asked, pulling Weiss from her thoughts. She looked over in time to see Yang making a kissy face across the arena, and turned to see Shadow winking back at her.

The brawler made a face at her sister, "What? I can't flirt with cute guys?"

Blake rolled her eyes, "Oh please, you're only flirting with him because he already said he'd sleep with you."

"Exactly! Takes all the effort out of it! Which means more time and effort can be put towards-"

"Aaaanyway," Ruby cut in, happy to change the subject. "Anything you guys wanna do after class?"

"I was thinking about going for a walk with Weiss," Blake said, looking to her girlfriend for confirmation. "Maybe we could go down to the pier?"

Weiss smiled and nodded, "I'd love to."

' _This should be fun,_ ' the heiress thought happily. ' _I'd love some time alone where we can just hang out. Plus, I really want to talk about us being quiet about this... Maybe there's a way around it that I'm missing?_ '

That last question stayed on her mind for the rest of class. Even after she and Blake split off from the rest of their friends and started toward the airport she couldn't stop thinking about it. Of course, Blake picked up on the fact that something was bothering her quite quickly. "Everything okay?" she asked once they'd arrived in town.

Weiss half nodded, "Sort of. I've just been thinking about what Shadow said after the match... Is it really that obvious that we're a couple?"

"I think he was just messing around. I'm sure that hug did look a little more intimate than normal, but I doubt anyone would really notice."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked, sounding a little worried. "What if it really is that obvious? There's no way I'd be able to hide it from someone then, especially my father..."

Blake frowned, "Weiss, I need to ask you something, and I need to be honest with me. Are you actually gonna tell him about us?"

"What? Of course I will! Just... not right now."

"You know he'll be more angry if he knows you lied to him. You shouldn't hide who you are."

Weiss looked at her girlfriend with an unamused stare, "You're not exactly one to talk. I don't think you're about to take that bow off."

"That's different," Blake snapped. "I wear the bow because the moment I take it off I'll be treated like I'm inferior to everyone. I'll be discriminated against, bullied, forced out of stores and restaurants... Until humans and Faunus can get along, I have to hide who I really am. The only thing that'll happen if you come out is that your father will be angry."

"More than just angry! He'll be furious! He probably won't let me back in our house!" Weiss exclaimed. The streets around them were fairly empty, so she didn't care as much how loud she was. Still, she did want to keep her frustration from getting out if hand, so she took a few calming breaths while Blake spoke.

"And you think that'll suddenly change if you wait a few months?"

"I'm hoping I'll be able to get him to like you enough that he won't be so upset when I tell him..."

Blake couldn't help but grin, "No offense, but I don't think that's gonna happen. I don't come from nobility, I'm not proper, and not to mention that I'm a Faunus. By the way, how long do you plan on waiting to tell him that?"

"After we're married and adopt a kid," Weiss replied with a straight face. She couldn't keep it for long though, and both girls started laughing as they arrived at the pier. They walked out on the boardwalk and stared over the water at the passing boats and birds flying overhead. "In all seriousness though, I don't know what I want to do about telling him. If he reacts the way I think he will, I won't have a home to go back to."

"You know I'm more than willing to wait on that," Blake said with a comforting smile. She took the heiress' hands and intertwined their fingers, pulling her close so their faces were only inches apart. "All I'm asking is we take steps in other areas. For example, would you be uncomfortable if I kissed you here?"

Normally, Weiss would've looked around to see who all could see them. That paranoia was still in the back of her mind, but she didn't care. She knew that Blake was right about having to take steps, and this was a fairly small one that she was willing to take. She moved in and pressed their lips together, her cheeks flushing from a tiny rush from doing this in public. "Does that answer your question?" she asked, giving a shy smile.

Blake grinned back at her, "Wow, I didn't expect that since team CRDL is over there watching."

"WHAT?" Weiss shrieked in horror, spinning around to look for them. She scanned over the pier and the surrounding sidewalks, but couldn't see them, just a few passing strangers. She turned back around with a confused look and was met by another, longer kiss.

"Just kidding," Blake giggled.

Weiss scowled at her, "That's not funny! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh lighten up. So I take it that means you would've been mad if I kissed you after we won our match?"

"I don't know if mad is the right word. I wouldn't be happy, that's for sure, but I wouldn't have stormed off or anything. I don't want to hide our relationship from people, I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with coming out yet."

Blake smiled, "And there's nothing wrong with that. It's not an easy thing to do, but just know that I'll be with you every step of the way." They stayed on the pier for a while just gazing out at the ocean and acting like a typical couple. Blake stood behind Weiss with her arms over her shoulders, kissing her on the neck. Weiss couldn't stop herself from blushing and giggling from each kiss, and was surprised at how much she enjoyed it. Acting this cutesy was far from her normal style, but around Blake she didn't care.

Eventually the sun started to dip close to the horizon and they decided to head back to campus for dinner. Weiss noticed they were getting an occasional weird look on the walk back to the airship, but didn't think much of it until they were on board. It wasn't until she went to scratch an itch on her hand that she realised why. "Wait, were we holding hands the whole way back here?" she asked.

Blake nodded, "Yeah, we were. Did you really not notice?"

"I actually didn't," the heiress laughed. "That's so weird... I was wondering why some people were looking at us, but I figured it had something to do with me being a Schnee. Sometimes I get those kinds of looks anyway."

"Well, that may be too. I think the hand holding was probably more likely though. So does that mean you're okay with being open about us in town?"

Weiss shrugged, "I mean, I guess so. I think I'd rather not in some of the more upper class areas though, just to be on the safe side."

They laughed and continued to cuddle up to each other for the flight, despite most of the passengers being students. It wasn't until they were back on campus that they went back to acting like two normal friends. Their plan was to go back to the room first to see what the rest of the team wanted to do for dinner, but Blake got a text from Ruby along the way saying to meet her and team JNPR in the dining hall, so they went right over.

"How was your walk?" Ruby asked once the couple got their food and sat down.

"It was good," Blake replied, smiling over at Weiss. "We made some progress to being public, so there's that. Hey, where's Yang?"

Pyrrha shrugged, "We don't know. She went off after class, and she hasn't answered her phone."

"That's weird," Weiss said, although she had a theory in mind as to why. "Think it's too early in the day for her to have found a new guy?"

"Come on, give her a little credit," Nora said in Yang's defense, not that she disagreed. Weiss went to reply, but as if on queue she noticed the girl in question walking toward them, as did the rest of the group.

"Yang! Where've you been?" Ruby asked, although everyone had a fair guess in mind after Weiss having already put it in their minds. It didn't help Yang's case that her hair was fairly messy, and her clothes were as well.

The blonde shrugged, "Oh, you know... Out." She sat down and started eating, but when she looked up she saw that all eyes were on her.

"Uh huh," Blake said with a smirk. "You hooked up with Shadow, didn't you?"

"Maaaaaybe," Yang replied with an innocent smile. "What can I say, he's a smooth talker. Oh, and by the way, if you ever get the chance to bang someone who can turn invisible you should absolutely do it."

Ruby made a face, "Ewwww, Yaaaang."

' _I have the weirdest friends,_ ' Weiss thought with a smile as an odd conversation started about invisible sex. ' _But, I wouldn't trade them for anything._ '

 **Hey guys! So if you didn't see, I posted the epilogue to A Neo Outlook on Life, so you should absolutely go check that out! Also, July's one-shot is up on my page, so go check that out too and be sure to vote on what you want next months to be!**

 **Someone asked the other day why I made a page, and if I was trying to make doing this into a sort of career. The answer in short is yes, I'd love to make writing into full-time career, but I know that's very unrealistic. I made my page so that people can support me they want so I can continue writing these stories. I'll never tell you that you have to donate, or make it so only sponsors can see my writing (apart from little extra), just that people who do will get everything I can give them for helping me toward my goal. :) Who knows, maybe someday I will be able to turn this into more than just a hobby, but until then, I'll get back at it and see you guys next time! ❤️ you!**

 **Want more? Like Blake's POV of the fight? (Out tomorrow.) Become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :)**

 **Thank you to my wonderful Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	8. A Bit of Perspective

**Be sure to go vote on this month's one-shot! Look for the post on my page ( dot com slash Novandalis) titled "One-shot: This month" and vote on ones you wanna see, or leave a comment if you don't see one you like! I'd leave a link but I'm able to here. :P You don't have to be a supporter to vote or comment, it's open to everyone! I'll start posting the one-shots here at the end of the month.**

Chapter 8: A Bit of Perspective

"So what're our plans for the night?" Jaune asked once everyone was finished eating, or at least close to it. That excluded Nora of course, since she would keep eating dessert until someone dragged her away.

Ruby shrugged, "I might just hang out in the room, that fight with team DASH really wore me out."

Yang grinned, "If you think you're worn out, you should hear-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Weiss snapped. "There is not a single person at this table who wants to hear about whatever you did with Shadow."

"You sure about that?" Nora asked, giving a sly wink.

Ren put his head in his hands, "Nora... Please don't..." She just giggled and started to play with his hair. Everyone laughed, and eventually the topic was brought back to what to do.

"How about a movie?" Pyrrha suggested, mainly looking at Jaune when she said it. She reached over and put her hand on his to give the idea that they'd be doing more than just watching the movie.

Jaune blushed, "I'd be up for a movie. What about you guys?"

"That depends," Ruby grinned. "Will we have to sit one row down so we won't see you two making out the whole time? Although, I'm not sure how that'd work with more than one couple."

"On that note," Blake said, smiling over at Weiss. "I was thinking maybe Weiss and I could go off on our own, have a nice first date as a couple."

Weiss smiled back, "That sounds wonderful. Sorry to ditch you guys."

"Not a problem," Pyrrha replied. "First official dates should be just the two of you. So what does everyone else think?"

Ren shrugged, "I might just catch up on studying, I'm not really in the mood to go out."

"I'll hang back too then," Nora added, happy to stay with her partner.

Ruby looked up at Yang, "What about you, sis? Are you gonna go with them?"

"I'm actually not feeling too hot," the blonde replied. "I'll probably just go back with you."

Blake smiled, "Well alright then. I guess we'll see you when we get back." The group dropped their trays off and said goodnight before splitting off. Jaune and Pyrrha went straight toward the airships, but Blake had an idea for her and Weiss first before they went anywhere. She led Weiss to a pathway overlooking the forest below, giving an breathtaking view with the sun dipping near the horizon. She let out a deep breath while she gazed out, "It's amazing how beautiful something so dangerous can look."

"Are we talking about you or the forest?" Weiss asked, grinning at her own humour.

Blake's eyes widened in surprise, not being used to getting either complements or jokes from Weiss, let alone both at the same time. She smiled, "You're full of surprises today, aren't you?" She leaned in for a quick kiss, getting a small chill down her spine from the contract. It was still amazing to her how much had happened in the span of the last twenty-four hours, making these kisses all the more electric. She hoped that spark would never go away.

"You picked up on that, huh?" Weiss replied, seeming uncharacteristically playful. "I guess you could say I'm on a bit of a high from everything that's happened. That and knowing how my father would react to this, it just makes everything seem so much... hotter. That feels weird to say."

Blake grinned, "It looks like despite your proper, cold exterior, that deep down you're just a normal girl too. Not being able to have something just makes you want it that much more."

"Oh come on, I'm not that cold... anymore," the heiress pouted, adding the "anymore" after getting a look from her girlfriend. "So what do you have planned for the evening?"

"Actually, I was hoping you could pick," Blake replied. "I feel like I've chosen everything we've done so far, and I want to do something you want."

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked, getting a nod in response. "Well... alright. Is there anything you want me to stay away from?"

Blake shook her head, "No, not really. I'll give you a no if you decide on something too outlandish."

Weiss nodded and stood for a moment while she thought. It wasn't long before she smiled from her idea, and she grabbed Blake's hand before pulling her off toward the airships. She refused to say anything while they walked, or for the length of the flight. It wasn't until they had gotten into town that she was ready to tell, mostly because it was too late for Blake to say no now. She led her girlfriend to the wealthier side of the city, and stopped outside one of the higher end clothing stores before turning to Blake with a mischievous smile. "Well, here we are!"

"And where exactly is here...?" Blake asked, looking nervously at the massive, ornate building in front of here.

Weiss continued to grin, "Well, I remembered how you didn't want me spending money on you when we were at the mall. Now that we're a couple, I figure that ban has been lifted. So, Blake Belladonna, prepare to be spoiled!"

"You've got to be kidding me," the Faunus girl groaned, resting her head in her hand. "Weiss, it's not that I don't want you spending money on me so much as I just don't like having really expensive things. I appreciate the offer, but-"

"Hey! You said I could decide what we do, and this is what I'm choosing. We're going to do some shopping, and if I happen to pay for said clothes, so what? You'll have something to wear if we ever go to one of the restaurants around here."

"What's wrong with the clothes I already have?" Blake asked, sounding a little offended.

Weiss rolled her eyes, "There's nothing wrong with them. But, these places are very upscale. They have strict dress codes, and won't seat you if you don't adhere to them."

"Alright, alright, fine. But don't go too crazy, okay?"

"No promises," the heiress replied with an evil grin, then pulled Blake into the store.

From the moment she stepped inside, Blake felt out of place. This was a very high end store; very fancy, very pricy. She brushed against a rack of jackets as they walked toward the back, and gasped when she saw the price tag on one of the lower end two-buttons. "Holy shit, Weiss!" she she exclaimed, but kept her voice down to avoid drawing any attention. "Can you really afford these? If I were still with Adam, it'd take a full train robbery share just for a coat!"

Weiss laughed, "Of course I can! Now come on, I see a purple blouse that I think would look great on you. Oh, and how do you feel about skirts?"

Blake groaned, beginning to realise this would be far more fun for one of them than the other. ' _Well... I did say she could pick,_ ' she thought while Weiss started pulling clothes off the racks. ' _I don't know why I'm complaining, it's not that I hate trying on clothes. This fancy stuff is a little out of my comfort zone, but I guess there's no harm in trying it out. Besides, I know Weiss doesn't have a lot of date experience. She's just going to what she knows, I can't be mad at her for it. I can suffer through one night of shopping._ '

Weiss handed her a pile of grouped clothes and ushered her into one of the changing rooms to try them on. Blake was a little hesitant to put any of them on at first, but after walking out in a few different outfits, that fear disappeared and she was able to focus on how she looked. It took a bit of coordination between the two of the before they found something she really liked though. Weiss was rich, but that didn't mean her taste in clothes was the same as Blake's. There was also a small feud about skirts that Weiss eventually won, but Blake didn't seem to mind after trying them on. She actually loved the way she looked in them, but didn't want to admit to Weiss that she had been right yet.

There were a number of hats and other hair accessories that Weiss suggested, but Blake turned them all down. Not because she didn't like them, but because she didn't want to take off her bow, especially here. She knew there were cameras watching from every angle to catch shoplifters, and suspected that the dressing rooms were fitted with them as well. She hadn't seen any signs about Faunus not being allowed here, but it seemed like a safe bet given the part of the city they were in. That and she simply didn't want anyone more to know about who she really was.

After about twenty minutes of trying on various combinations, Blake settled on two outfits that she was actually willing to wear and leave with. The first was a white tunic with a grey sash, and a pair of black designer jeans. She also had a zebra stripped scarf she liked with it, but Weiss wasn't as big a fan of it. After another quick dispute over it Blake put it back and went to try on the second of the two outfits. She emerged a minute later in the purple blouse Weiss had eyed at the start, and a black, ruffled skirt that went down to her knees. She did a quick twirl as she walked over to Weiss, gigging a little at how the fabric spun with her.

Weiss' eyes seemed to sparkle as she took in the sight of her girlfriend. "You look amazing," she said shyly, starting to blush a little.

Blake smiled, "I feel amazing. I hate to admit it, but I actually really like this, this whole expensive clothing thing."

"I told you," Weiss replied with a grin. "Do you want to go look at shoes after we're done here? Maybe some jewellery?"

"No, that's alright. I can only handle you spending so much on me at a time. And besides, if this is the price of the clothes you like, I don't even wanna imagine what the jewellery would cost."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, it's not that pricy."

"Answer me this," Blake said. "If I sold a kidney, would there still be rings I wouldn't be able to afford in the jewellery stores here?"

Weiss went to give a quick response, but stopped when she realised that Blake wasn't wrong. She pouted, "Alright, maybe some of the most expensive pieces could pay for a small house, but it's not like I'd get one of those for you. I wouldn't even wear those myself, you're just asking someone to mug you if you do. I meant maybe a nice necklace or a pair of earrings. Nothing too big or flashy, or bank breaking, just something nice."

"Maybe another night," Blake smiled, walking over and giving Weiss a quick peck on the lips.

She went back into the changing room and got back into her normal outfit, and the two picked up the clothes they'd chosen and went to the register. Weiss hadn't picked out any full outfits for herself, but she did find an ice-blue jacket she thought she would wear if the weather got colder. They went up to the front, add the man behind the register rang everything up. Blake's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw that the final price had a comma in it, which Weiss thoroughly enjoyed. They exited the store with a bag in hand each, and started back toward the airport.

It was a beautiful night, so they didn't walk with any kind of hurry. Blake loved nights like these that seemed to make everything look beautiful, seeming to hide all flaws under the glow of the moon. They strode hand in hand through the streets until the airships came into view, and Blake couldn't help a small laugh from escaping as they got close. "So you're okay with us being public in the city?" she asked, getting a weird look from Weiss in return. She pulled their interlocked hands into view, and Weiss realised they'd been holding since the night began.

"Huh..." the heiress said in amazement, wondering how she hadn't noticed until now. "I guess so... That's really weird, I hadn't even thought about it until now. It just seems so natural."

Blake smiled, "Good, that's how it should feel. Would you be upset if I kissed you out in the open like this?"

"Um... Probably not, if we're already walking holding hands then-" She was cut off by a surprise kiss that wasn't really much of a surprise. She'd known it was coming from the start of the question, and was happier about it than she expected. There was something almost invigorating about it, knowing that she was kissing her girlfriend in plain view of everyone but not caring who saw. She giggled as their lips pulled away from each other, "Nope, not upset at all. But, don't do it if we're in one of the really upper class areas, okay? That's the only place I'd be worried about people recognising me and having it get back to my father."

Blake nodded, "No problem. Come on, let's hurry, I think that's our flight that just landed."

Over the weekend and through the following week, Blake and Weiss started exploring exactly how comfortable they were acting like a couple in public. Although, it was mostly Weiss determining where the line was drawn. It was surprising to her, but the more they went about it, the more she found that she was okay with being public. Ironically enough, their first show of affection in front of everyone at school came from her. After winning a doubles sparring match, she did what Blake had restrained herself from doing after their match with team DASH and kissed her in full view of the entire class.

Her initial reaction after realising what she'd done was violent embarrassment, but the applause from her classmates that followed gave her the reassurance in their relationship that she needed. Not only did no one seem to care about the nature of the relationship itself, but everyone also seemed to be encouraging and congratulating them for being open about it. She hasn't realised just how accepting people could be, especially her classmates, and the experience came as a huge relief to her. She didn't have to hide who she was from her peers, and it felt amazing.

Of course, the thought of how her father would react still loomed over her head, which was more the cause of her paranoia than anything else. That was the only thing keeping her and Blake from being entirely public, otherwise she would happily display their relationship everywhere and not care at all who saw and didn't approve. Unfortunately though, that wasn't the case, and after receiving a letter from her father on Thursday about bringing her whole team home for spring break her anxiety levels were through the roof.

"I'm dead... I'm so dead..." Weiss groaned, resting her head down on the table. She, along with her teammates, were sitting in the library to study for tomorrow's exam in Professor Port's class, which wasn't helping with her anxiety. They'd studied all day Saturday, and most of this afternoon, but she was still stressed out. That, coupled with her growing fears from the letter, were turning her into a nervous wreck.

Blake smiled and gave her girlfriend a pat on the back, "Calm down, it's not that bad. Spring break isn't for another month. We don't have to tell him if you're not ready."

"But what if he finds out? It took Shadow all of ten seconds to figure it out! If it's that obvious that we're a couple, how can we possibly hide it from my father for a whole week?"

"Hide what?" a familiar voice asked from behind them. Weiss groaned as she turned turned to see it was Neptune, and Sun wasn't far behind him. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, but she knew that it was going to be an awkward conversation telling them about her new relationship, and that was not something she wanted to deal with right now.

"Hey Neptune! Hey Sun!" Ruby cheerfully greeted them. "What's up?"

Sun shrugged, "Not much, just thought we'd drop by and say hey. So what's the ice queen trying to hide from her dad?"

"That's actually kinda private," Yang replied while Weiss gave an angry glare from the use of her least favorite nickname. "I don't know if she wants you to-"

"Relax," Blake interrupted, looking between Sun and her partner. "He already knows. Well, part of it at least. I told him after he asked me to the dance the second time."

"That you're a gay or that you like Weiss?" Ruby asked with a childlike innocence that only she could pull off with a question like that.

Neptune just looked utterly confused by the conversation, "Uh... Can someone fill me in on what's going on? I feel like I'm missing something really important here."

"Yeah, no problem," Sun said before anyone could interject. "Blake likes girls, more specifically the ice queen, and I'm guessing that she said yes judging from what they're saying." He looked at team RWBY for confirmation, but their annoyed stares only told him that he'd probably said too much.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Weiss is dating Blake?" Neptune asked incredulously. "When did this happen?"

"Last week," Weiss reluctantly replied, figuring it was pointless to hide it now. "She asked me out at the dance, or I guess more accurately I asked her. We've been together since last Friday."

Neptune looked stunned. Of all the things he could've been told here, that was not at all what he'd been expecting. "So..." he said after a few moments. "I take it that means you'd say no to dinner tomorrow?"

Weiss gave him a weird look, but she started to smile after realising that he was joking around to ease the tension. She let out a sigh of relief to see that he wasn't more upset by the news, or at least he didn't seem to be. "I'd have to check, but I'm pretty sure I'm busy," she replied. "Does that mean you're okay with it? That you're not mad or anything?"

Neptune looked around for a second, then shrugged, "I mean, I'm not happy, but if you're gay you're gay, not much I can really be mad at. I hope things go well for you two."

"Thank you," Blake said with smile, equally relieved by his reaction. "So what've you guys been up to recently?"

"Nothin' much," Sun replied. "You guys doing anything fun this week? We're kinda lookin' for somethin' to do, this place gets kinda boring."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah! The Achieve Men concert is this Friday! Weiss got us all VIP tickets! She could probably hook you guys up too if you want."

"Daaaamn, that's pretty sweet," Neptune said in his usual, cool tone.

"Hell yeah it is!" Yang cheered. "I'm gonna get to meet-"

"SHHHH!" Weiss hissed. "We're in a library, keep your voice down!"

Yang stuck out get tongue in response, getting a laugh from everyone else but Weiss. Sun smiled and looked at Ruby, "Thanks for the offer, but they're not really our kind of thing. If you guys get bored though, let us know. We'll still be lookin' for somethin' to do."

"Will do!" the redhead replied before Sun and Neptune walked off. "Well, I'd say that went pretty well."

Blake nodded, "No kidding, I was expecting much worse. Anyway, what were we saying before they came over?"

"I was talking about my dad finding out," Weiss answered. "I know it was probably a joke, but the fact that Shadow seemed to pick up on it at all still has me worried. What if it really is that obvious?"

Yang shrugged, "Shadow's an ass, he was just trying to egg you on."

"Harsh words for your newest lover," Ruby jeered, happy to poke fun at her sister.

"Shut up! It was a one time thing..."

"Sure, with him," Weiss added on. "But not the first time you've slept with someone ten minutes after meeting them."

Ruby grinned, "Yeah, that's more like a 'once a week' thing."

"Hey, knock it off!" the brawler shot back. "I'm not in the mood for this."

Blake sighed, "She's not wrong, you really should-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Yang yelled, her eyes instantly turning red as a few small flames crackled around her "I GET IT, OKAY? I'm not exactly an innocent little angel. You guys don't have to be jerks about it."

Ruby's face instantly softened, "Sorry, I didn't think you'd get this upset... You usually love joking around."

"Yeah, well, not now, okay?"

"What's wrong?" Blake asked, starting to feel a little worried about her partner. "This isn't like you."

"I-I'm fine..." Yang said quietly. Her eyes were fixed on her the table, not moving as her face slowly fell. "It's probably nothing..."

"And if it's not nothing?" Weiss asked, sounding a little annoyed. It was obvious that Yang was lying, and Weiss didn't want to waste any time playing around to get an answer from her with how much was already on her much. "Tell us what's going on."

Yang looked up at her teammates for a moment before sighing. She opened her mouth a few times to speak, but couldn't get the words out. It seemed like she knew what she wanted to say, but her body wouldn't let her. She let out another, longer sigh, "I'm late..."

"What do you mean you're...?" Weiss began before trailing off as she realised what Yang meant. Everyone's eyes popped open in horror, not sure how to react to what had been said. The table was dead silent for a solid five minutes.

Blake finally cleared her throat before speaking, "H-How late?"

Yang shook her head, "I... I should've gotten it the day after he and I hooked up. That's why I moved so fast with him, cuz I didn't know if he'd still be around in a week... It's been eight days..."

"Did he at least use protection?"

"Well... no... but I'm on the pill, I hadn't even started my white row yet. We didn't have any condoms around, I figured we'd be fine..."

"Whoa..." Ruby said quietly. "So... do you think you're...?"

"I-I... I..." the blonde began, trying as hard as she could not to cry, but ultimately failing. "I don't know... I have a test in my drawer, but... I'm too afraid to take it... What if I'm really pregnant? I wouldn't be able to stay here, you can't fight monsters with a baby inside you... And what's dad gonna say? I just... I'm so afraid right now..."

' _Wow..._ ' Weiss thought, helplessly looking at her sobbing teammate. ' _And I've been worried about my dad reacting to Blake... Sure, he'll be furious, and even more so when he learns that she's a Faunus, but... I don't even want to imagine what he'd do if I came home pregnant..._ '

She put her arm around Yang's shoulders, pulling her in close, "Shh, shh, it's alright. You don't even know if you are pregnant, don't get too worked up. Come on, we should get back to the room so you can take the test. It's not like putting it off will change the result."

Yang nodded weakly, "Y-Yeah, I guess..."

"I hate to ask this," Blake began, looking a little torn. "But do you know that it would be Shadow's?"

"I'm almost positive. I've only been with one other guy since my last cycle, and he used protection. If I really am... you know... it's Shadow's kid."

"Have you told him?" Ruby asked.

Yang shook her head, "No, I don't wanna make him freak out if it's only a scare. Either way I'm gonna kick his ass though."

"Then I think we should go find out," Weiss suggested, getting up from her chair. It took another minute to calm Yang down enough so she could get leave, but after she did they all started walking back to the room. They were all pretty quiet on the way, mostly because no one knew what to say. None of them wanted to think of what would happen for them if the test came back positive, especially Yang, but they couldn't shake the thoughts from their heads.

They got back to the room and Yang immediately started searching through her drawers. Her hands were shaking when she pulled the box from the drawer and started to open it. Ruby walked over to her sister's side and gave her a pat on the back, "Don't worry, sis, you'll be alright. So... how does it work?"

Yang couldn't help but smile at just how innocent Ruby was. "It's pretty simple," she replied. "You pee on the one end, wait a minute, and it tells you if you're pregnant. A minus sign means no, a plus means yes."

"Here's hoping for the minus," Blake said optimistically.

"Yeah, no kidding. Alright, I'll be out in a minute, wish me luck." Yang walked into the bathroom and shut the door, leaving everyone standing outside in anticipation. It was dead silent until a faint trickle came from inside, and Weiss decided now would be a good time to say something.

She cleared her throat, "So um... Are you guys ready for the test tomorrow?"

"Only you would ask that right now," Ruby said with a nervous laugh. It was clear how worried she was for her sister, and rightly so. "I think I'll be fine, it's only Professor Port. He curves exams anyway."

Blake shrugged, "True, but you shouldn't plan for that. And if you score above the curve you get extra credit."

"Yeah, I guess," her leader replied before looking back to the bathroom door. It went quiet again while they waited, each second feeling like an hour. The fate of team RWBY would be decided but that pregnancy test. After a minute they heard the doorknob start to turn, and their eyes snapped up to look at Yang's face as she came out. Her expression was completely neutral, and Blake felt a twinge of fear as she thought it meant the worst.

"What does it say?" the Faunus girl asked.

Yang keep her straight face for another few moments, looking at each of her anxious teammates. She sighed, then jumped into the air and donned a wide smile. "I'M NOT PREGNANT!" she exclaimed, doing a little dance once she landed. She spun around in circle, hugging the test tightly to her chest in celebration.

"You jerk!" Weiss scolded, folding her arms. "You should've said that from the start! I almost had a heart attack when I saw your face!"

Ruby smiled, "So have you learned anything from this? Hmm?"

Yang shrugged, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. And yes I have; Nobody gets to have this unless they come prepared. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to Nora. Shadow's about to have his legs broken."

Ruby put her head in her hands, "Yang... Please don't-" She wasn't able to finish before Yang sprinted out of the room. The redhead groaned before taking off after her, leaving Blake and Weiss alone.

"On the bright side, we'll never have to worry about that," Blake laughed.

Weiss blushed, "Yeah, I suppose so. I've got to say, this really makes my problem with my father look like nothing. I'd rather tell him I'm a lesbian dating a Faunus than that I'm pregnant."

"Yeah, definitely," Blake said before sprouting a grin. "Who do you think he'd hate more, me or Neptune?"

"Neptune? Why him?"

"Oh please, if anyone at this school were going to knock you up, it would've been him."

Weiss shrugged, "You're not wrong. Hmm... He'd probably still hate you more, even if Neptune had gotten me pregnant. He'd be angrier at me for being pregnant, but still. I'm sorry about him, I wish he weren't so stuck in his ways. He'd love you if he'd ever be willing to get to know you."

"Maybe in time," Blake smiled. "If we ever-"

"LET GO OF ME!" Yang's voice boomed from the hallway. "I WANT THAT SON OF A BITCH TO PAY FOR THIS!"

Weiss sighed, "Should we go help them?" Blake reluctantly nodded, and the two hurried off into the hallway.

 **Want more? Become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :)**

 **Thank you to my incredible Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski  
** **Kenseilon  
** **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	9. Love is in the Air

**Hi guys! If you didn't see, I just started a new monthly one-shot series, so be sure to check it out! Every entry will be chosen from your votes, and there's a link on my profile for where you can go to do that. Hopefully I can get around to everything you guys want! And now, the next chapter!**

Chapter 9: Love is in the Air

"No, no, absolutely not!" Weiss exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air out of frustration. She paced a quick circle to calm dorm before looking back up at Yang. "Why would you even suggest something like that?"

The blonde shrugged, "I dunno, didn't seem like that crazy of an idea to me."

"I'm on her side," Blake added. "I think you're just overreacting a little."

Weiss looked ready to explode, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is horrible idea! We could-"

"Weiss!" Ruby firmly interjected, getting the heiress to pause for a second to listen to her. "We've already made reservations, no point in arguing about it now."

"Wait, what? How did you possibly get reservations at Crimson Horizon?"

Yang grinned, "I've gotten pretty good at doing an impression of you. They had no trouble finding a table for four for a Schnee."

"Why are you so opposed to this?" Blake asked, looking a little confused. "Wasn't something like this the point of taking me shopping?"

The heiress sighed, "The outfits we picked out didn't end up being anything too high class. We'll probably have wearing the same dresses we went to the dance in to this place. And my opposition comes from two things, and they're both each other's sister."

"Hey!" Ruby pouted. "What's wrong with me and Yang?"

"Nothing is wrong, but I really don't think you'd fit in well at these kinds of restaurants. Ruby, you're a little young, and I have a feeling the food is probably all things you wouldn't enjoy. And Yang has the table manners of an Ursa. No offense."

The blonde shrugged, "None taken, but I don't think you're giving us enough credit. I'm sure there's something Ruby would like, and believe it or not, I can actually act all proper when I need to."

"She's got a point," Blake added. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Weiss looked at the eager faces of her teammates for a second before sighing and folding her arms, "Fine, but you'd better be on your best behavior. Anything you do will reflect on me. When did you make the reservations for?"

"Wednesday," Ruby replied.

"You dolt! That's today! Why didn't you tell me before?"

Yang smiled, "So you couldn't cancel our reservation."

Weiss spun to yell something at her, but decided against it. At this rate her blood pressure would be through the roof before they even left the dorms, and she had a feeling she'd need to save some of her patience for the actual dinner. "Alright, what time?" she asked.

"Six forty-five, so we've got plenty of time to get ready. It's only quarter to four."

Ruby nodded, "We should still get started though. I'm gonna see if Nora has some foundation I can use, I ran out the other day."

"I'll go with you," her sister added. "I think Pyrrha still has some of my brushes from her date with Jaune last week."

The two left the room, and Weiss turned to Blake with a very unhappy look. "This was your idea, wasn't it?" she asked, knowing her girlfriend all too well. "I can't imagine either one of them suggesting it."

The Faunus girl gave an innocent shrug, "Maybe, but so what? You've been wanting to take me somewhere nice, and we haven't done anything as a team in a while. It's a win-win."

"Well... yeah... But I wanted it to be more of a date, just the two of us."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked, looking confused. "You said you don't wanna act like a couple at these restaurants since people could recognise you."

Weiss thought for a minute, then sighed, "I know, I just... I don't know, I hate that I can't do everything I want to with you. You're right, having Ruby and Yang there won't change anything, but I do like the feeling of it being just the two of us."

Blake smiled, "Well, it's a little late to change our plans now, but next time it'll be just us. I promise."

The girls started getting ready right away once Ruby and Yang got back. Blake had a feeling the other girls would cut it close with their makeup, and it turned out she was right. Neither she or Ruby took too long since they both stick to a very light use of makeup and such, but Yang and Weiss on the order hand went all out. Granted, it was mostly the time spend on their hair that ate up the time, but that was still time spent getting ready. This was one of few nights Weiss didn't go out with her hair in a ponytail, and instead wore it in a long braid that Blake was happy to do for her.

It was almost six o'clock by the time they finished, and now Weiss rushed them out of the room to ensure they'd catch the airship on time. There was often a twenty minute gap between departures, so missing the closest flight wouldn't most likely meant being late for their reservation. They caught a flight fairly quickly though, so Weiss was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

"I don't understand," Yang said, looking a bit confused. "If you need reservations a while in advance for this place, why are we in such a rush? It's not like they can just give our table away to someone who walks in."

Weiss shook her head, "Yes, but tables are booked very carefully so there isn't any overlapping. If you're more than fifteen minutes late, they cancel your reservation so whoever has that table next won't have to wait."

"That seems a little harsh," Ruby replied. "But you're a Schnee, would that rule even apply to you?"

"In all honesty, probably not. But, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

The airship eventually landed on the north side of the city and the girls started off toward the restaurant, turning heads along the way. They had all decided against wearing the dresses they'd gone to the dance in, since they were a little too over the top, and instead went with slightly more conservative and formal ones. The Crimson Horizon was only a few blocks from the airport, so it wasn't long before they were inside, waiting to be seated. As expected, the hostess had their table ready within a minute after seeing Weiss, and their waiter was over to take their drink orders before they'd all finished sitting down.

While he went around the table, Blake had the opportunity to look around at the building and its decor. The main dining room was about a third the size of Beacon's, which was still fairly large, and the ceiling extended about twenty-five feet up. There were several ornate chandeliers hanging above them, with one that was much larger and brighter in the center of the room. The walls were lined with marble columns, large paintings, ivy, and various of other pieces of art. There were small fountains, a fireplace at either end of the room, and even an indoor pond in the corner complete with a waterfall.

After he'd finished going around, the waiter rushed off to bring their drinks, leaving the girls snickering at what Weiss' name had managed to do for them so far. "Sometimes I forget just how big a deal you are," Yang teased. "But you'll still always be our little ice queen."

Weiss glared at her teammate, "You know that I could tell him to poison your food and he'd do it, right?"

"Oh don't be so grouchy," Ruby laughed, which only seemed to make her partner more angry.

Blake smiled, "Just ignore her, you know she's just trying to push your buttons. So how's the food here?"

Everyone opened their menus, and all eyes but Weiss' popped open after seeing the prices listed beside the food. "Holy shit!" Yang quietly exclaimed. "I know that fancy places charge more than others, but I've had steaks that cost less than the salads here!"

Weiss shrugged, "For most people who come in here, this isn't even that pricey. And remember, everything is on me, so order whatever you want."

"Are you sure?" Ruby hesitantly asked, still looking over the menu in disbelief.

"Of course I'm sure, this is pocket change. Get whatever you're in the mood for."

Yang grinned, "I'm feeling in the mood for the Gilded Filet Mignon. Do they actually put real gold on top?"

Blake rolled her eyes, "No, I'm sure it's just-"

"Yes, it's real gold," Weiss interrupted, getting a shocked look from her girlfriend. "It's gold leaf, it's incredibly thin. It's the stuff they use to put gold trim on things. It doesn't really have a taste, it's just there to look fancy."

"Well that's what I'm getting," Yang repeated. "What about you guys?"

"I'm a pretty big fan of their pasta," Weiss replied, mostly still looking at the menu to see if she'd find something that'd catch her attention more.

Blake kept scanning through the list of entrees until one section made her eyes light up. "I might need another minute," she said, her bow twitching a few times while she started reading the descriptions of the food.

Yang grinned, "Lemme guess, you found the seafood section?"

Blake didn't say anything back, she just gave a shy smile and innocently looked up at the ceiling. They all started laughing, Blake included, until a few dirty looks from the tables around them gave the signal that they needed to quiet down. Weiss smiled and shook her head, "We're going to be kicked out before we get our food, aren't we?"

Ruby shrugged, "I think we can behave ourselves. Can you help me decide between the lamb rack and the tempura shrimp?"

"I'd go with the shrimp," Blake answered, happily playing into her own stereotype. They did their best to keep their giggling quiet, and by the time they'd settled down the waiter had come back with their drinks and to take their orders. Just like before he ran off to put them in, and it was only fifteen minutes before their food was brought out to them.

"Oh wow," Ruby said in surprise after their waiter set the plates in front of them. "That was really fast. Do you think he told them to rush?"

Weiss nodded, "Considering the people next to us ordered before we even sat down, I'd say so. I'm certainly not complaining though."

They all started eating, and the high prices seemed to be justified from how delicious everything was. Yang seemed a little disappointed that she couldn't taste the gold on her steak, just like Weiss had said, and after a piece of the golf leaf stuck to her front tooth, she ended up taking it off entirely. Ruby giggled, "You look like a pirate. I need to take a picture."

"Don't you dare," Yang hissed, starting to blush. She pulled out her pocket mirror and started to pick at her teeth, cursing under her breath when it didn't come off. "Well fuck... Weiss, how do I get this off?"

The heiress grinned and shrugged, "No idea, I've never had that problem. Maybe you should order more and just gold plate your entire mouth."

"I hate you some days. I guess I'll figure it out when we get back, maybe-"

Yang was interrupted by a sudden commotion a few tables over, and all four girls turned to see what had happened. A waiter had dropped a tray of drinks, but wasn't paying any attention to it. Instead, his eyes were set on a couple at the table beside him. The woman at the table was wearing a hat, and poking out from the back was one of her rabbit ears that had accidentally popped out from the brim. She looked around at all the people looking at her and started to sink down in her chair. She made eye contact with Blake for a moment, who gave a sympathetic frown, knowing that the restaurant wouldn't allow a Faunus to stay.

' _I feel so bad for them..._ ' Blake thought as the restaurant's patrons started murmuring about the woman. ' _All she wanted was a nice evening out with what I'm assuming is her boyfriend... I'm sure they were enjoying themselves up until now, but Dust forbid there be a Faunus in a nice place like this. I hate it, I hate this discrimination. We deserve better._ '

The couple was eventually escorted out, and afterwards the floor manager started walking around to various tables. To Blake's horror, she saw he was having people wearing hats, scarves, and other accessories remove them. She turned to Weiss and saw that she looked worried as well. "What do we do?" Blake asked quietly, keeping track of the manager out of the corner of her eye.

Weiss' eyes frantically darted back and forth while she tried to figure something out. ' _This is bad, really bad,_ ' she thought. ' _There's no way we can hide her ears, and once they see... I can imagine the headlines now, "Weiss Schnee seen with Faunus teammate." My father would kill me, not to mention what it would do to the company... I have to get us out of this._ '

She looked at Blake and put a hand on her shoulder, "Relax, I can get us out of this. Just let me do the talking." Blake still looked terrified, but she nodded and did her best to sit still while they waited.

Sure enough, another few minutes, the manager arrived at their table. He looked over the girls for a second before setting his eyes on Blake. "Pardon me, ma'am," he began, "but I'll need to ask you to remove your bow. Just momentarily, but we want to ensure that no other Faunus snuck in, not that we believe you're one of those animals." Ruby and Yang paused mid-bite and looked at Blake after the comment, expecting her to snap back. Blake looked like she wanted to punch the man, but she had enough self control to not react. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide her anger if she'd have to reply though, but luckily Weiss intervened.

"I think not," the heiress snapped. "You can't just walk over here and demand that my teammates start removing articles of clothing."

The manager looked somewhat confused by the response, "I apologise if I appear rude for asking, but I-"

"But nothing, she'll do no such thing. You have no right to ask my gi- my friend to remove her bow."

"You're acting awfully defensive about this," he said, looking very suspiciously between her and Blake. "Unless she's a Faunus there's nothing to-"

"Do you know who I am?" Weiss interrupted with a stern glare, getting a timid nod in return. "Then you know how powerful I am, and especially how powerful my father is. We were having a pleasant evening until you interrupted us like this, and I'm far from pleased right now. I'd suggest you move along and leave us to our meal, that is, if you want this restaurant to still be regarded as highly as it is. A strongly worded, negative review from my father would certainly-"

"No no, that won't be necessary," the manager said quickly, suddenly aware of what the consequences of angering the daughter of one of the most powerful men on the planet could be. "I apologise for the interruption, I'll leave you to your dinner." He ran off in a hurry, leaving Weiss' teammates staring at her in a mix of relief and fear.

"Whoa..." Yang said, realising how much power the Schnee name commanded. "That was... scary."

Weiss simply shrugged, "What? I don't like when people harass my friends. I've got the authority to do something about it, so why wouldn't I?"

"I suppose..." Ruby replied, almost looking afraid to say something that would upset Weiss. "Why don't you ever do that in school then? It's not like there haven't been opportunities to."

"Because as nice as it is to be able to do, I don't like doing it. I don't want to get by using my father's name to scare everyone into bending to my whim. If there'd been another way to hide Blake I would've done it, but this was all I could think of that quickly." Blake looked down and sighed before went back to eating without saying a word. She was clearly upset, but Weiss wasn't sure if asking her about it here was a good idea. The four girls all resumed eating then, and not long after a waiter came by with dessert menus, and told them their selection would be on the house. Ruby and Yang were ecstatic and ordered right away, while Weiss and Blake elected not to have anything.

' _I think I screwed up,_ ' Weiss thought, feeling a little worried by how Blake was acting. ' _There are so many other ways I could've phrased things, other things I could've said... Damn it, why can't I just have a normal family? She's upset because I hid her, hid us... I want to be public just as much as she does, but... Ugh... I have a feeling we're going to have a talk once we get home... and I don't think it'll be anything good._ '

Weiss wasn't sure if anyone else felt it, but she felt a sort of tension between her and Blake. It wasn't really anything Blake was doing, but Weiss could tell there was something going through her head that wasn't good. There wasn't a lot of conversation for the rest of the evening, apart from a few quick things from Ruby and Yang, and finally they finished their meal before heading back to Beacon. Weiss was put even more on edge from how little Blake spoke on the way back, even when she tried to engage her. Blake would only give short or one word answers, and made almost no attempt to look at Weiss when she spoke.

They returned to their room and changed back into more comfortable clothes. Yang just threw on her pajamas since it was after eight and she had no plans of either leaving the room again or putting a bra back on. She jumped into her bed and started browsing her scroll, while Ruby went across the hall to see if team JNPR had any plans for the evening. She came back saying they weren't home and that she was going to the library to check for them, which left Weiss and Blake sitting on their beds in an awkward silence. Eventually Weiss had had enough and decided they needed to talk about what was wrong.

"Hey Blake, can we talk in the hall for a minute?" she asked, getting a shrug in return. She sighed and stood up, and Blake did the same. They walked outside and shut the door, but didn't say anything to each other for few moments after. Weiss sighed, "Please tell me what's bothering you. I can tell it was something I did, and I have a fair guess in mind, but I want to know." She didn't know what to expect, but in her head she was preparing for the worst. She could feel her legs starting to shake, afraid of how this conversation might end.

Blake shrugged and looked down at the floor, "It's a couple things, but you're right, you did do something."

"Alright... Can we talk about them? I don't like seeing you like this."

"I guess first thing is the whole incident with that couple," Blake said, a hint of frustration in her voice. "And when the manager came over to us... What he said about Faunus... I just can't stand being around people like that. I hate being looked down on, it's so fucking infuriating!"

Weiss took a step back, a little frightened by Blake's tone. Blake never swore, not like that. "I'm sorry..." Weiss said quietly. "I didn't think anything like that would happen. I didn't want to have to talk to him like I did, but... I didn't really have a choice."

Blake sighed and finally meet Weiss' gaze, "I just hate having to hide like that. And then when I saw you act like that to do it... You were so quick to use your name and your father... It made me think there are still parts of you that are still the same as when we met. I know it's stupid, but... it made me feel like you haven't really changed at all."

"Blake, please don't say that," Weiss begged, feeling herself nearing tears. "You know I'm not like that anymore, we wouldn't be dating if I was. I get that I'm not always the most understanding, there's still a lot I don't know, but I am trying to be better. And I don't want to hide our relationship any more than you do, but there are places we just have to. Please, please believe me, you know I love you, and you know I want us to be together more than anything. I swear to you that when I... Uh, Blake? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Blake was frozen in place, eyes and mouth wide open. She made a few squeaks as she tried to speak, but couldn't form words. Finally she composed herself and spoke in a low whisper, "W-What did you just say?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, not realising what she'd said. It took her a minute, but once it dawned on her she too stared at her girlfriend in awe. "I... I love you..."

Blake's hands flew to her mouth to muffle a squeal, and she felt her eyes starting to well up with joy. "I-I love you too..." The two ran into each other's arms and started to cry, happy beyond words. Blake smiled, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't act like this... You're trying, I know you are, and I know it's not easy."

"No, it's my fault," Weiss replied, although she was a little muffled from having her head buried in Blake's shoulder. "I'm so afraid of what'll happen if my father finds out that I forget give you the attention you need... that you deserve... I'm tired of it, I'm tired of him having the final say in every aspect of my life. I'm telling him. He'll be back home from Vacuo this Sunday, I'll call him then and tell him that we're dating."

Blake gasped and broke their embrace, holding Weiss at arm's length and looking at her in shock. "Are you sure?" she asked. "If he doesn't take it well he'll-"

"I don't care," the heiress interrupted. "He can say whatever he wants. It won't change how I feel, and it won't be the end of us. If he can't accept me for who I am, then... then I don't want him to be part of my life. Whatever the consequences are, I'm ready."

Blake smiled, "And I'll be right there with you. I'm proud of you, you've really come a long way since I met you."

"I've still got a long way to go, but I can do it. I know I can." The two stood smiling at each other for another few seconds before a buzzing from Blake's scroll brought the moment to an end.

She pulled it out and made a face when she saw who it was from. "It's Sun," she said as she opened his message. "Huh, that's weird. He says he needs to talk to me about something important."

Weiss gave an equally confused look, "I wonder what's up. Normally he looks for you in person if something's wrong. You should probably go find him. I think I'm gonna go see what's taking Ruby so long."

"Sounds good. You'll be back before I go to bed, right?"

"Of course," Weiss replied with a smile. They kissed goodbye and went off, with Blake heading upstairs toward team SSSN's room. Sure enough, she found Sun pacing in a circle outside his door, which didn't seem like a good sign to her.

He looked up once he heard footsteps, and smiled when he saw who it was. "Hey Blake," he said in a sort of hushed voice as she approached. "Sage went to bed already, otherwise I'd invite you in."

"Do you want to go somewhere else to talk then?" Blake asked, looking over Sun to see if there was any clear indication of what was wrong.

"Nah, we're fine out here. He's a pretty heavy sleeper."

"Okay..." Blake replied, still looking concerned. "So is everything alright? You said you wanted to talk to me about something important."

Sun nodded and shyly looked down at the floor, putting his hands in his pockets and starting to blush. He smiled and went to say something, but couldn't seem to get it out. He laughed after a minute and looked up to meet Blake's confused gaze. "It's sorta about Ruby," he said finally. "I uh... I was kinda thinkin' about asking her out."

"Wait, what? Really?" Blake asked in surprise, but a good kind of surprise. "Since when do you have a crush on her?"

He shrugged and continued to smile, "I mean, I've always thought she was pretty cute. We've both got the same kind of energetic personally too. I started thinking about it after the fight back in the city. I was a little down after you said you weren't into guys, and it just sorta went from there. D'ya think I have a shot with her?"

"I don't think it's her you should be worried about," Blake laughed.

"Yeah, no kidding. That's why I was hoping you could help me. I'm not afraid of whether Ruby will say yes or no as much as I'm afraid Yang's gonna kill me before I can even try. I'm actually gonna ask her if she'd be okay with it now, could you be in the room when I do?"

"So I can stop her from killing you?" Blake asked, getting a shy nod in return. "No problem. Come on, let's go."

They walked upstairs and down the hall to their room, and found still Yang laying in her bed when they got there. She was half asleep, and didn't notice them coming in until Blake closed the door behind them. She groggily yawned and sat up to see who it was, and smiled once she had. "Hey guys! Whatcha up to?" she asked, hopping down from her bunk.

Sun shrunk back a little and gave Blake a nervous look. The raven-haired girl just rolled her eyes and pushed him forward a little. "I'm not asking for you," she said. "I'm just here for protection."

"Protection?" Yang asked. "Protection from what?"

Sun took a moment to prepare himself, then looked Yang directly in the eye, "Alright, here goes. Yang, I wanted to know if you... uh... if you'd be okay with me... maybe... asking Ruby out on a date."

Yang's expression went from confusion to disbelief, then to anger, and back to disbelief. She looked over at Blake to see if this were some kind of joke, but the soft smile on get partner's face told her that Sun was being serious. She looked back at the monkey Faunus, who by now had taken a full step back in anticipation of what was to come. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself as best she could, then stared at Sun with the most intense look Blake had ever seen from her. This wasn't just Yang, or even angry Yang; this was big sister Yang.

"Alright, listen to me," the blonde began, her eyes beginning to shift from purple to red, but only partially. Her tone was very serious, but not necessarily angry. "I want you to understand exactly what you're getting into. First of all, Ruby is two years younger than you. In my eyes, she's still a child. She's very sweet, but she's also very innocent, and very naive. Those are two things that a guy can easily take advantage of. If she ever tells me that you did something to take advantage of her, I will end you. Second, I'm her big sister, and it's my job to protect her. If you hurt her in any way, you'll answer to me. Understand?"

Sun nodded, "I understand."

Yang looked him over once before taking a few steps toward him. He went to step back, but Blake put her hand out to stop him. Yang walked up until their faces were only a foot apart, maintaining eye contact the entire time. She paused for a few seconds, giving him time to take in what she'd said. "Do you really want to date her?" she asked. "This isn't just gonna be some quick fling, so if that's what you had in mind then you're wasting your time. I'm not saying you have to marry her, or even still be dating by next semester. If things don't work out, they don't work out, but I want to make sure you're going into this with the right intentions."

"I am," he replied, starting to feel a lot more confident in himself. "I really like her, I can see us having a lot of fun together. I know you just wanna look out for her, and I swear I won't let anything happen to her."

Yang looked back at Blake to see what she thought, and the Faunus girl smiled and gave a nod of approval. Yang took another moment think it over before letting out a long sigh, "Then... it's alright with me. But I'll be keeping an eye on you, got it?"

Sun smiled widely, "Got it. Thank you." He smiled at Blake before taking off down the hall, seeming eager to either go find Ruby or get away from Yang, or both.

The blonde sighed again before sitting down on the edge of Blake's bed, not looking as okay with her decision as she had a second ago. Her eyes started to water, and she blinked a few times before looking up at her partner. "I guess I'm not as ready as I thought I was," she said quietly, sniffling a bit as a few tears started to roll down her cheeks. "I knew that Ruby was gonna grow up eventually, but... I didn't want it to be this early..."

Blake walked over and sat beside the brawler as she started to cry, pulling her into a hug. "I know it's hard," she said in a soothing tone. "But you can't treat her like a kid forever. She's more grown up than you realise, you just have to trust her."

"I'm just... just worried about her, ya know? I know Sun's a nice guy, but I'm afraid that he'll do something that'll-"

"Hey," Blake interrupted. "Don't think like that. You know he'd never do anything that stupid. He's far too afraid of you."

Yang gave a small laugh, "Yeah, I guess you're right... That doesn't mean I'm not gonna worry though, it's my job to worry about her."

"I'm not saying you shouldn't, but you need to accept that she's mature enough to make her own decisions. You never know, they could be together for a long time. If she says yes, that is."

"She'll say yes," Yang replied. Blake gave her a confused look, which made her chuckle. "She'll say yes because she likes him too. She told me so the other day. She said she was too shy to say anything though, and asked if I thought Sun liked her enough to say something to her."

"I guess that answers that question," Blake said, getting an unamused look in return.

"Yup... I think I'm gonna go for a quick walk, I need to clear my head."

Blake frowned, "Are you sure you're okay with this? If you had told him no, he would've listened."

"I know," Yang said, stopping in the doorway. "I am okay with it, or at least I will be. Besides, as much as I worry, it's not my place to tell Ruby who she can and can't date. I just need to let everything sink in, I'll be fine then."

"Alright... Do you want to come walk with you? There's plenty of things we could talk about to take your mind off of this."

"No, but thank you though. I don't wanna distract myself from it, I just wanna let it sink in. I'll be back in a little bit." She turned and left, shutting the door behind her with a little more force than usual.

' _I don't believe her that she's really okay with it,_ ' Blake thought, then smiled to herself. ' _But she handled that very well, way better than I gave her credit for. Ruby's lucky to have a sister like that to look out for her. I just hope Sun knows what boundaries he can and can't push. Making a wrong move arround her could have some pretty serious consequences. Ruby can keep him in line if he does anything really out there, but even just a kiss on the cheek in front of Yang could set her off, or at least I could see it happening. Hopefully she can adjust to this._ '

Blake let herself lie back against her pillows and started searching through her stack of books for something to pass the times until Weiss got back. Her eyes crossed over a section of her more lewd novels, and she couldn't help but laugh to herself. ' _I know it's probably a long way off, but I wonder how Weiss would feel about trying some of the things from these books. Not even the sexual parts necessarily, just some of the more playful and cute things we could do while we're alone. The more we act like a couple, the more I get the feeling she wants to do more but is afraid of breaking out of her proper shell, like she'd be embarrassing herself. I should try easing into some of it next time we're together, see how it goes. If she's willing to stand up to her dad, I'm sure she'll be willing to try._ '

 **Want more? Become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :) All new supporters get written in as OC's, and I've got plenty of cool stuff in store if I ever have enough people to do them with.**

 **Thank you to my incredible Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski  
** **Kenseilon  
** **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	10. Fire, Ice, and Bananas?

Chapter 10: Fire, Ice, and... Bananas?

The next day started as plainly as any other. The usual classes, lunch discussions, everything. The only thing that seemed different was Weiss, who spent most of the morning lost in her thoughts. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that telling her father about Blake was something she simply wasn't ready to do. She couldn't concentrate in her lectures, every thought was about what he could say when she broke the news.

' _Why couldn't I just have normal parents?_ ' she angrily thought as Oobleck's class was nearing its end. ' _This is so messed up, all I want is a normal relationship with Blake and I don't think we'll ever be able to have it. I shouldn't have made her that promise... I knew I wasn't ready, I just... I just got caught up in the moment. I do want to tell him, but I'm not ready for what he could do... Gah! I hate everything! Why can't anything I do ever be simple?_ '

The heiress sighed and put her head down on her desk, feeling almost defeated. The bell finally rang and class was dismissed, and the girls split up on the way to their next class. Blake and Yang had forgotten her homework back in the room, so they went back to pick it up while Ruby and Weiss went straight to class. Weiss was still very distracted, and after a while her leader started to pick up on it. "Something on your mind?" Ruby asked a few minutes into their so far silent walk. "Even you aren't normally this quiet, and I can't remember the last time you didn't pay attention in class."

Weiss took a moment to register that someone was talking to her, and nodded once she processed what had been said. "Yeah, but it's sort of personal," she replied.

Ruby smiled, "Then your team leader is the perfect person to talk to! What's up?"

"Look, it's not that I don't think you can help, but... No, wait, it's exactly that. Sorry."

"Hey!" her leader pouted. "Please tell me? I promise I'll have something helpful to say."

' _I suppose it couldn't hurt,_ ' Weiss though. ' _And I guess as far as personal problems go, this isn't even the worst one this week for our team._ '

The heiress sighed, "It's Blake... and my father... I promised her I'd tell him about us this Sunday, but... I don't think I can."

"Are you afraid he'll make you break up?" Ruby asked, and Weiss couldn't help but laugh.

"If that's the worst that could happen, this would be so much less stressful. Not to mention that I could just ignore him."

"Okay... So what do you think is the worst that could happen?"

Weiss shook her head, "Well, it'll be one of two things. He could straight up pull me from Beacon and put me on the path to taking over the company someday, or he could, most likely, just disown me on the spot."

"I think you're overreacting a bit," Ruby replied, sounding almost amused by how pessimistic her partner was being. "From what you've said I'm sure he'll be mad, but there's no way he'd be that extreme."

Weiss gave a light chuckle, "If you knew him you'd know I'm not overreacting, but I guess that is the worst case scenario. Still, the chances of him giving us his blessing are slim to none."

"He's still your father, there's gotta be something to say about you being his daughter, right? You can't pull something like 'Pwease, daddy, do this for your sweet wittle angel?'"

"Sweet little angel?" Weiss asked, smiling at the thought of her father being so adoring. "As if. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely still his little girl, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters to him is the company. If he thinks me being in a public relationship with another girl could hurt business, then how I feel means nothing."

Ruby looked down at her feet, "Sorry to hear that... My dad's always been really chill with me and Yang. I can't imagine him reacting like that to anything we'd do. Wait, that's not true. If Yang had really been pregnant he would've had a heart attack."

"I don't even want to think what'd happen if I told him I was pregnant," Weiss laughed. "On the bright side, that's not something I have to worry about with Blake."

Her leader made a face, "Ewww, that's not something I wanna think about."

"You're such a child," Weiss replied, rolling her eyes. "But, on the subject of relationships, how're things with you and Sun?"

"Wonderful!" Ruby exclaimed, instantly perking up. "He's taking me out tonight as a matter of fact. I'm so excited!"

Weiss smiled, "Good, I'm glad. You really like him, don't you?"

"Mhm! I've had a crush on him since... well, since I met him really. It sucked cuz I always thought he and Blake would get together, but I guess everything worked out now! She had her eyes set on someone a little different."

"That's one way to put it," Weiss laughed. "Well I'm happy things worked out for you."

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, me too. Hey, would you mind if I asked for some first date advice?"

"Um, sure, I guess. I'm not exactly an expert though, maybe you should ask Yang?"

"Yeaaah, no," her leader nervously replied. "I have a feeling she won't wanna talk about this. I can tell she's mad enough that Sun and I are dating, I don't wanna make it worse. I don't understand why she doesn't like Sun though..."

Weiss gave a sympathetic smile, "She's not mad that you're dating Sun, she's upset because you're dating someone at all. She's afraid to see you grow up more than you already have."

Ruby looked confused at first, but she quickly understood what Weiss was saying. She frowned, "Huh, I'd never thought of it that way..."

"She really cares about you," Weiss said with a smile. "She's just trying to look out for you, even if it doesn't come across that way."

"I guess... I wish she would've just said that, I've been panicking about her trying to make us break up or something. She can be really overprotective sometimes."

Weiss shrugged, "That's only because she loves you. You're lucky, Winter would never look out for me like Yang does for you. To be honest, I'm really envious of you two sometimes."

"Were you two never close?" Ruby asked.

The heiress shook her head, "No, not really. Maybe when we were younger, but we've really grown apart. I'd be nice to be able to go to her for advice like you can with Yang."

"Maybe you can? Call her just to say hi, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from you. And hey, maybe she'll have something helpful to say about talking to your dad."

"I highly doubt that... I'm still not sure if I'm ready to tell him. Do you think Blake would be okay with putting it off? With how upset she got yesterday after dinner, I'm afraid I'll really hurt her if I say I want to keep us a secret."

Ruby shrugged, "I can't really answer that. You should talk to her about it. I'll be out tonight, and I'm sure Yang will be too. You could do it then." The two arrived at their next classroom, and paused outside the door. "Seriously, call your sister. Class doesn't start for another ten minutes, you could do it now. I'll have your seat for you."

The redhead went inside, and Weiss just sighed as she stayed where she was. ' _Should I really call Winter?_ ' the heiress asked herself. ' _I can't think of the last time I called her to talk, or for advice... She probably wouldn't even want to help, but still... Well... I guess I don't have a reason not to call... I hate it when Ruby's right._ '

She shook her head before pulling out her scroll. She navigated to Winter's contact information and let her finger hover over the call button. She took a deep breath before pressing call and bringing her scroll up to her ear. It rang for a few seconds before a familiar voice answered on the other end.

"Hello, Weiss," her sister greeted her. "I must say, this was not a call I was expecting to get. Can I assume you need something for me?"

Weiss sighed, "No, I was... just calling to see how you're doing. We don't really talk anymore."

Winter chuckled, "Is that so? Are you sure you don't just need money? It'll make this call a lot quicker."

"I'm being serious. You're my sister, and I... I don't like seeing my teammates be so sisterly and have us not ever speak to each other. I'd be nice to be able to come to you when I need to talk to someone."

"So there is something you need? Again, if you just say these things-"

"Just forget it," Weiss interrupted, regretting making the call. "I'm hanging up, goodbye."

"Weiss, wait, I'm just teasing you. What's got you so troubled that you'd reach out to me like this? And I'd love to just chat by the way, call me later tonight and we can."

Weiss smiled, "Thanks... I'll be taking you up on that."

"I expect you to," Winter laughed. "So what's wrong?"

"Right, right..." Weiss sighed, suddenly feeling very nervous. "I uh... I started seeing someone, and... I'm not sure how to break it to dad."

There was a short pause, followed by a solid ten seconds of Winter laughing uncontrollably. "That's it?" she asked, still laughing while she spoke. "Unless this boy's a convicted felon, I don't think it'll be that big of a deal."

Now it was Weiss' turn to laugh, although mostly to herself. She wasn't about to go into Blake's past since that would bring up a whole other issue, but her sister's choice of words did give her a nice way to break the news to her. Weiss shook her head, "I'm not seeing a boy... Her name's Blake, she's my teammate."

"Oh really?" Winter asked, sounding rather amused. "My my, you're full of surprises today, aren't you? Let me guess, you're afraid he won't approve?"

"I'm afraid he'll throw me out! You've heard the way he talks, his views are pretty cut and dry."

"Oh don't be so overdramatic," Winter replied. "Remember last year after Danny and I broke up when dad found out Danny is a Faunus? If he didn't kick me out then, he won't-"

"Wait wait wait, hold up," Weiss interrupted, her eyes widening from what she'd just heard. "You and Danny broke up? And he's a Faunus? And dad was okay with it?"

Winter laughed, "I don't know if I'd say he was okay with it, but yes."

"Why am I only now hearing about this? I don't even know you two broke up."

"We never talk, remember? We can catch up on all this tonight, but yes we broke up, and he's a Faunus. He had the cutest little deer horns, that's why he always wore a beanie."

"Interesting..." was all Weiss could say, wondering whether or not she should tell her sister about Blake. "So... you don't think dad will be mad at me?"

"I mean, I wouldn't expect him to welcome her with open arms," Winter sarcastically replied. "But, he certainly won't go as far as to throw you out. If she were a Faunus then maybe, but I'm guessing that's not an issue."

Weiss nervously laughed, "Y-Yeah, not an issue..."

"Weiss...?" Winter asked, immediately picking up on her sister's tone. "Is she...?"

"Uh... Well... Maybe..." There was another pause, followed by both girls laughing together. Weiss was incredibly relieved to not only have gotten everything out, but also that Winter not only was okay with it, but could relate to it too. "You won't tell him, right?"

Winter continued to laugh, "Not a word. Just be careful though, I'd wait to bring that up until you're ready for someone else to cover your tuition."

"No kidding," Weiss smiled. "Thank you, I'm really glad I called."

"So am I, it's nice time hear from you. Listen, I've got to go, but I'll hear from you again tonight? Maybe around seven or so?"

Weiss nodded despite being on the phone, "Sounds good, I actually have to go too, class. See you tonight."

They hung up, and Weiss let out a massive sigh of relief. ' _That was... unexpected,_ ' she thought with a smile. ' _I guess she cares more than she lets on... I'm actually excited to talk to her tonight. Maybe I'll put her on speaker phone and let her meet Blake._ ' She finally went inside and took her seat beside Ruby, and soon the rest of the team joined them to sit through Professor Port's class.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, and eventually the girls ended up back in their dorm after dinner. Ruby immediately showered and started getting herself ready for her date, much to the amusement of her teammates. Weiss went to the library soon after to return some books, while Blake stayed in her need to read. Yang grinned as Ruby finished finished her makeup in the mirror, "You need to chill out. It's Sun, you'll be lucky if he buttons his shirt, so I doubt he'll care if you're all gussied up."

Ruby stuck her tongue out at her sister, "Shut up, I can look pretty if I want to."

There was a sudden knock at the door, and Ruby rushed over to before anyone had time to blink. She smiled when she opened it to see Sun, who was dressed about as formally as he had been for the dance, which wasn't much. He smiled back at her and cleared his throat, "Ahem, you uh... You look really nice."

Ruby blushed, "Thanks! Come on in, I'll be ready to go in a minute."

He nodded and stepped inside as she went to the bathroom to finish up. He made eye contact with Yang almost immediately, and took a tentative step back. She smiled, "So where are you guys going?" Her tone was level and warm, not a hint of anger or anything. It was surprising, but she really did seem to be alright

Sun looked confused as to why Yang wasn't acting different, but he certainly wasn't going to question it. "She'd mentioned wanting to go to that new weapon museum downtown," he replied, although he still sounded a little cautious. "Not my first choice, but as long as she likes it then I'm good."

Yang nodded, "Sounds like fun. Are you getting dinner first or going straight there?"

"We'll probably get dinner first, but we haven't picked anywhere yet."

"Alright," Yang said, still maintaining her cool. "Any plans after the museum or just coming straight back?"

Blake couldn't help but laugh at her partner, at least in her head. ' _I wonder if she realises she's interrogating him,_ ' she thought. ' _Probably not, but at least she's being really calm about it. I bet Sun thinks she's plotting to kill him with how level headed she's being, even I wouldn't believe she's really this calm._ '

The monkey boy nervously shrugged, "We uh, haven't decided yet."

"Okay. Just don't be out too late, alright? We've still got class tomorrow."

"Can do. So... you're really not mad or anything?" Sun asked, not sure if bringing it up would set her off.

Yang smiled and nodded, "Sun, I can't tell her not to have a boyfriend, that'd make me a horrible big sister. Even if I don't like it, I have to accept that she's growing up, and can do more adult things. My part only comes if she gets hurt, so just remember what I said yesterday."

Sun nodded as Ruby emerged from the bathroom, and the two headed out for their date. Yang let out long breath once the door was closed behind them, but still didn't seem upset. If anything she looked relieved. Blake smiled and set her book down, "You continue to surprise me, Miss Xiao-Long."

"Huh?" her partner asked. "Why's that?"

"Mostly the fact that you haven't killed Sun. You've been really mature about this, I'm proud of you. I can tell it's really bothering you though, so if you wanna talk about it, I'd be happy to listen."

Yang smiled, "Blake, I promise you I'm alright. I know Sun will take good care of her, not that she can't take care of herself. I want them to have a fun, I can see this lasting a long time. But thank you, if I need to talk I'll come to you first."

"If you're sure. So what're your plans for the night?" Blake asked, starting to grin. "As if I need to ask. Where's the party tonight?"

Yang shrugged, "Nah, I think I'm gonna stay in tonight. Just chill."

"Wow, I think that's a first this semester!"

"I guess so," the blonde replied, but she didn't look very happy about it. She sighed and lazily climbed into bed without any of her usual flare, and didn't move for nearly ten minutes after she sprawled out on top of the covers.

Blake looked worried after she noticed how her partner was acting. "Yang? You okay?" she asked, getting a low grunt in response. "Oh... This is about Ruby and Sun, isn't it?"

The brawler finally rolled over and met Blake's gaze with a serious look, "For the last time, I really am okay with it. I meant everything I said when Sun picked her up."

"Alright... Well what is it then? And don't say nothing, clearly something's wrong. Is that why you don't wanna go out tonight?"

Yang shook her head, "I don't wanna go out because I'm done with what it does to me. Remember how much of a mess I was last week? I can't do that to myself again, it's just not worth it."

"You can still go out and not hook up," Blake replied, surprised to hear how much of an impact that experience had had.

"No, that's the thing. The only reason I go out in the first place is to hook up."

Blake paused to think of what to say next. This was by no means her area of expertise, but she felt she still had to say something to try to be helpful. "Alright..." she said slowly. "Was it just for fun or is there a reason behind it?"

Yang rolled her eyes, "What are you, my therapist?"

"I'm just trying to help. I've had my fair share of problems, I'm sure there's something useful I can say. If you'd rather be alone or whatever though, I can head to the library for a bit."

"No, don't go," Yang said, although she looked very reluctant to keep talking. "I guess I'm afraid to commit to someone again."

Blake frowned, "Have you been in bad relationships in the past?"

"No, not at all. I had a boyfriend a for three years that I was really serious with, but we split up because I was going here and he decided he was going straight into the military instead. We'd never see each other, so why try to keep it together, right? I dunno, that moment it hits you that it's over for good... I just don't wanna feel that again."

"I've been there," Blake replied, walking over and putting a hand on her partner's shoulder. "It sucks, it really does, but that's not the part you should focus on. Remember all the fun you had, all the good things about your time together."

Yang shrugged, "Yeah, I guess so. I miss having that kind of connection with someone, but I think I've dug myself into a hole for trying to start something serious. I've developed a bit of a reputation around the school..."

Blake smiled back, "You just have to know where to look. Try going out tonight, but don't go to some huge, crazy party. Go somewhere where people are looking to just hang out, chat, have a good time. See who you meet, you never know what could happen."

Yang thought it over for a second, then smiled and hopped down from her bed. "Ya know what? You're right," she said, walking over to her dresser to fix her hair in the mirror. "There's an entire campus full of... well, mostly full of nice guys, and there must be one out there for me. Thanks, Blake."

"Any time. Now get out there, you don't want someone finding your perfect match before you do. Just be sure to take your own advice, you have class tomorrow too."

The blonde grinned as she walked to the door, "Have you seen me? Another girl doesn't stand a chance with him." She turned and left while Blake rolled her eyes at the joke, leaving the Faunus girl by herself. She picked up her book and started from where she'd left off, but was interrupted when Weiss came back only a few minutes later.

The Faunus girl smiled, "Hey, how was the library?"

"No different than usual," Weiss replied, taking a seat on the edge of Blake's bed. "I take it Ruby left already? I hope Yang didn't go with them..."

Blake laughed, "No, Yang went out. We had a really interesting talk before she left."

"Really? She's going out partying again? Does she have no self control at all?"

"Actually, she's not," Blake replied. "Basically she said she's tired of hookups and wants a serious relationship. I told her to go to a more low-key party and meet people."

Weiss looked surprised, "Wow, I wouldn't have gotten that if you gave me a million guesses. That's good though, I'm glad to see she's slowing down, it was only a matter of time before something worse than just a scare happened."

"Yeah, I'd hate to see something like that happen to her... Well hey, we've got the evening to ourselves now, anything you wanna do?"

"I don't know," the heiress said with a shrug as her girlfriend sat up beside her. "Any suggestions?"

Blake thought for a second before before donning a grin, "I think I've got one." She reacted over and pulled Weiss in close for a long kiss.

The heiress turned a deep shade of red after they parted. "I uh... I think it's still a little early, don't you?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked back in confusion, but it didn't take long for her to realise what Weiss thought she was implying. "OH! I didn't mean like that! I just meant like, cuddling, maybe making out a little... or a lot, whatever you're up for."

Weiss smiled and rolled her eyes, "You're so weird, but I guess I couldn't say no to an offer as romantic as that."

Blake grinned and let herself lie back, pulling Weiss down on top of her as she did. She put her arms around the heiress' shoulders and let their lips reconnect. They rocked side to side a bit as things heated up a bit, each girl starting to run their hands along the curves of the other. Weiss flinched when she felt Blake's hand brush at the top of her skirt, but didn't swat it away. Instead, she moved her hands up, brushing Blake's cheeks and through her hair before taking hold of the tip of her bow. The Faunus girl gasped when she felt a slight tug, and quickly pulled away. "W-What're you doing?" she asked.

"Taking off your bow...?" Weiss hesitantly replied, starting to feel like it was a bad idea.

Blake looked sceptical and confused, "Why?"

The heiress shrugged, "I want to see your ears... You're always wearing the bow, I never see them. They're... they're really cute."

Normally Blake would get angry when someone made a comment like that, but Weiss was different. Coming from her, any sort of compliment was more than genuine, but that didn't mean Blake felt any less awkward about showing her ears. She felt naked without the bow, more so than she would stark naked in the middle of class. She didn't know what to say and sort of froze in place. Weiss gave a sad look and started to take her hand away, but Blake reached up and held it there, giving a small nod to say that it was okay. The heiress gave another timid pull, not getting any reaction from Blake, then finally pulled it loose, letting the fabric fall onto the pillow.

Weiss smiled, "There, much better." She lightly stroked up the length of Blake's ear before letting her fingers rest at its base and gently began to scratch. Blake pushed her head up against Weiss' hand, just like a cat would, and the heiress started to scratch harder, in turn making Blake press harder. After a few seconds the Faunus girl let out a loud purr. She froze after realising it and pulled her head away, turning bright red.

"I-I uh... I-I'm sorry," she stuttered, feeling violently embarrassed. "I didn't think-"

"Shhh," Weiss interrupted, giving her girlfriend a light peck on the lips. "You might not want to believe it, but you're really cute when you do stuff like that."

Blake blushed and smiled, "I love you, so much. I take it all back, I don't care if we have to hide forever, as long as we can have moments like this while we're alone."

"I love you too, and it's funny you should say that," Weiss laugh. "I called my sister earlier and... well... she thinks I'm probably overreacting. We'll tell my father over the weekend, I promise. He won't be happy, but I think everything will turn out okay."

"Really?" Blake asked in surprise. "Well, alright then. Hey, why is this the first time I've heard you talk about your sister other than just in passing?"

Weiss shrugged, "We haven't really talked much, but we want to change that. Oh, that reminds me! It's after seven, she wanted me to call her to chat and catch up. I bet she'd love to meet you."

"That sounds wonderful," Blake smiled. The two sat up and Weiss grabbed her scroll off the nightstand. She went to her recent calls and tapped Winter's name, then pressed the speaker icon and held her scroll up between her and Blake as it started to ring.

"Hello again," Winter said from the other end. "I was starting to think you weren't going to call."

Weiss smiled, "Yeah, I got a little distracted. I have you on speaker, Blake is sitting next to me."

"Hello," Blake said shyly.

Winter laughed, "Nice to meet you. So you're the Faunus that stole my sister's heart?"

Blake's face immediately turned white, and she turned to Weiss with a look of fear and confusion. Weiss just giggled, "Relax, she's okay with it. Her ex boyfriend is a Faunus too."

"That's right," Winter replied. "So tell me about yourself, Blake."

The Faunus girl looked very hesitant, but a soft nod from Weiss was all the reassurance she needed. "Alright... Well... I don't really know where to start..." she said.

"How about how you two got together? I have to imagine it's a good story."

She and Weiss went back to the beginning and told the whole story, and soon the three girls were going back and forth sharing their stories, chatting about themselves, and laughing the entire time. By the time it was late enough to end the call, nearly two hours later, Blake was convinced that she and Weiss had a bright future ahead of them. She smiled as Weiss finally hung up the call, ' _If that's how her sister is, then maybe I've been looking at her family all wrong. Even what they said about their dad doesn't make him out to be a monster, just really set in his ways. I can't be sure what's ahead, but I'm not afraid anymore._ '

 **Okay, so a couple important things. I've run into a bit of a financial situation, and I'm looking for a part time job after my classes to cover some new, big expenses that've come up. I'm not gonna have as much time to write, so chapters will probably be released more sporadically. Sorry guys. :/**

 **On a lighter note, this past week (the ninth to be specific) was my birthday, so I gave my sponsors a sneak peak of an upcoming White Rose one-shot that was birthday themed. (: I haven't decided what I'm gonna do with it yet, I'll have to wait and see. Until next time, love you guys!**

 **For early chapters, extra content, and more, become my Patron at dot com slash Novandalis! :)**

 **Thank you to my inspirational Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	11. Coming Out and Rocking Out

**VOLUME 3 HYPE! AHHHHH! Okay, now that's out of my system. Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long, but real life is hard. :P I've got a job on campus though, so hopefully I can get my extra expenses covered. Woo! Also, I've got a little announcement to make. I've been wanting to do it for a while, and I think I'm going to try to write my own fantasy novel. I'm still in the very earliest stages of starting out, but I'll keep you guys updated as I make progress! I'll likely put the rough chapters to my sponsors when I get that far, but that's a decent way off. :P Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you read. Enjoy!**

Chapter 11: Coming Out and Rocking Out

Ruby got back from her date about an hour after Weiss and Blake hung up with Winter, and it seemed like it had gone well. Ruby was practically glowing when she walking into the room. Blake couldn't remember a time she'd seen her leader quite that happy, and that happiness was very infectious. "So tell us about your date," Blake said once Ruby had changed into her pajamas. "How'd it go?"

"Amazing!" the redhead exclaimed. "There's not a single thing I can think of that would've made the night any better. Well, apart from cookies, but that's it!"

Weiss smiled and shook her head, "You're something else. I'm glad you had fun though."

"Thanks! Hey, where's Yang?"

"She went out," Blake replied. "She told me about her ex and wanting to try at a serious relationship again, so I told her to go out and meet people."

Ruby gasped in delight, "That's awesome! I know it might not seem like it, but she has a really good taste in guys. Her last boyfriend is one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. I dunno who she'll find here, but I'm sure we'll all love him."

Weiss and Blake followed Ruby's leaf changed into their night clothes since tomorrow was another early morning. Yang still wasn't back by the time they were ready to turn the lights out, but it was still early enough in the night that they decided not to worry. "Hey Weiss," Blake said as the heiress started pulling back her covers to get into bed. "Would you uh... maybe wanna sleep over here tonight?"

Weiss blushed and gave a shy laugh, "I uh... well... You know what? Yes, I actually do." She remade her bed and walked over to Blake's, feeling a little giddy about sharing a bed with her girlfriend. She got under the covers in front of Blake as Ruby turned out the lights, and the two snuggled closely together.

' _This is... nice,_ ' Weiss thought, the rhythmic feeling of Blake's chest rising and falling against her back lulling her to sleep. ' _I need to be less hesitant about us moving forward. I don't want to miss out on things like this. I wonder if there's something coupley we could do at the concert tomorrow... Nothing extreme of course, but something._ '

The next morning came at the sound of Ruby's alarm clock, and Weiss opened her eyes to find Blake's arms tightly wrapped around her midriff. The Faunus girl stirred and let go as Weiss rolled over to see her face, and smiled as their noses lightly brushed against each other. "Good morning," Blake said softly, starting to yawn as she finished. "How'd you sleep?"

Weiss smiled back and went in for a peck on the lips, "Wonderfully, and you?"

"Amazing. I-"

"Hey," Ruby suddenly interrupted, sounding worried. "Where's Yang?"

Weiss and Blake were on their feet in an instant and, sure enough, Yang wasn't in her bunk. Blake looked to she if she might be in the bathroom, but the door was wide open and the lights were off.

Weiss sighed and looked at Blake, "Did she really not come home last night? I thought you said you talked to her.

"I did..." Blake said sadly. "I guess she didn't listen."

Ruby shook her head, "But she never sleeps over on school nights... Or at least if she does she texts me, and I don't have anything from her on my scroll. Do you think something might've happened to her?"

"You should call her," Weiss replied, starting to share in her leader's worry. "If she doesn't pick up we should probably go look for her."

Her leader nodded and quickly pulled out her scroll to call Yang. It was totally quiet while she waited for her to pick up, which was almost immediately interrupted by a ringing coming from out in the hallway. The door to their room opened a moment later and Yang walked in, grinning as she held her scroll up to her ear. "Hey Rubes, what's up?" she asked, looking at Ruby as she said it.

The redhead glared at her sister and hung up, "WHERE WERE YOU? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE STAYING OUT? I-"

"Don't yell," Blake said in a quiet voice. "People are still sleeping, and I'm guessing Yang's hungover."

The blonde smiled and shook her head, "Wrong. I didn't even drink last night. Aren't you proud of me?"

Ruby didn't look amused, "That's great, but it doesn't answer my question. Why didn't you come home last?"

"Take a wild guess," Weiss said, rolling her eyes. As much as she didn't want it to be true, she has a strong feeling that her guess would be right.

Yang smiled shyly and started to blush, "Well, I kinda met a guy, and-"

"Seriously?" Blake angrily interjected. "After everything you said last night you still just hooked up with someone?"

Ruby looked furious, "I can't believe you, I just-"

"Before you guys jump to any conclusions, can I tell you what really happened?" Yang asked. Her teammates quieted down and gave nod, eager to hear what she had to say. "Okay, so I went to a little party at the east apartments. I didn't drink, I just started chatting with people. It was actually a lot of fun, I forgot how good a time I can have sober. Anyway, I started talking with this one cute guy and we really hit it off. We went back to his room just to chat, and ended up cuddling in his bed since his teammates were out for the night. No sex, just cuddling. Sorry I forgot to text you, we just sorta dozed off. I ran back here after his alarm went off a few minutes ago."

Ruby smiled, "Much better. So who is this guy? When do we get to meet him?"

"His name's Mercury. He's visiting for the tournament."

"Mercury?" Blake asked in surprise. "The guy that was too afraid to fight Pyrrha?" She wasn't sure why, but she had gotten a really bad vibe from him. There wasn't anything she could justify on, but something about him seemed to bother her.

Yang giggled, "Yeah, I asked about that. He said he didn't want to get his ass kicked too hard before our exam."

"Well I'm just glad you're alright," Weiss said before starting to get dressed. The rest of the girls quickly followed since they still had class today, and once their morning routines were finished they headed out. Of course, that wasn't the end of probing into Yang's evening. The rest of the team had a hundred questions each, and Yang was a good sport about answering them all. It was surprising, but it seemed like she had really fallen for him, and Blake couldn't help but be happy for her despite her distrust of Mercury.

They got to their first class on time and took their seats, and Ruby couldn't stop fidgeting from the start. Weiss did her best to just ignore it and focus on her notes, but her partner's constant foot tapping was shaking the entire row. "Can you please stop trying to cause an earthquake?" the heiress finally hissed.

Ruby immediately stopped and smiled, "Sorry, I'm just so excited! The concert is tonight, remember? How can I focus on a boring lecture when I can't stop thinking about it?"

Weiss rolled her eyes and went back to paying attention, but now the concert was all she could think about too. It didn't help that Ruby was right about how dull class was, and it wasn't long before Weiss' notes turned into doodles of her, Blake, and the Achieve Men. Their next lecture was even more painfully sloe, but she at least enjoyed the subject material and could try to focus on that. By the time lunch came around she was almost as restless as Ruby, much to the amusement of her friends.

Pyrrha grinned once both teams had gotten their lunches and sat down. "I take it you're excited for tonight?" she asked.

"You bet!" Ruby and Weiss answered at the same time. They turned to each other and blushed while everyone else laughed, and Weiss put her head in her hands.

Ruby giggled, "Jinx! But yeah, I can't wait! I still can't believe we have backstage passes! I'm so excited!"

"Lucky," Nora pouted. "You couldn't have hooked us up too, Weiss?"

Ren shook his head, "Nora, be nice. I'm sure the tickets weren't cheap or easy to get."

"Actually, that's not really a problem," the heiress replied. "I could get you guys tickets too, I just didn't know you'd want to-"

"OF COURSE WE WANNA COME!" Nora exclaimed. She did a little dance in her seat before grabbing Weiss' head and pulling her over the table to kiss her forehead. "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

Weiss looked ready to murder the girl, and Jaune was laughing so hard he almost could breathe. "Thanks, that's really nice of you," he said while he tried to calm himself down. "What time are you guys heading out?"

Yang shrugged, "I think we decided around seven. The show doesn't start until nine, but we'll need time to get there. Plus, we can hang out with the band before they go on stage!"

"I'll make a call after we're done with classes for the day," Weiss said. "I'm pretty sure I can get you in, but don't get too upset if I can't."

Blake smiled, "That's really nice of you. So are you guys ready for the combat training exam today?" Team JNPR looked at each other and shrugged, not seeming too excited about the subject. Today the class was being paired up at random to fight another random duo to test their ability to adapt. It favored people like Pyrrha, Weiss, and those who were individually strong and who had fighting styles mixed well with others. For people like Jaune and Ruby though, whose styles needed some getting used to, it could be a slight problem.

When it came time for class, their hesitation turned out to have been justified. Most of them were paired with people they'd never met or only barely knew, and the matches were incredibly awkward and sloppy as a result. The only match that stood out to Blake was Yang's. Her partner was paired with Mercury by some stroke of luck, and they were two of the only students who hadn't previously fought together that seemed to do well. Blake didn't know if it had to do with last night, the fact that they were both melee fighters, or something else, but they had an excellent feel for each other. Not as strong as when she fought with Blake of course, but still strong.

' _Wow, he's actually a pretty decent fighter,_ ' the Faunus girl thought during the match. ' _And I can't deny that he and Yang seem to sync up well together. Maybe I misjudged him._ ' She could see similar looks to hers on the rest of her friends, and she felt a little bad for being so quick to write him off. The group meet up with Emerald and Mercury after class, and there was a sort of glow around Yang while she was standing beside her new crush. She couldn't stop smiling, and there was a sort of shine in her eyes that none of them had seen before.

"So what're you guys up to tonight?" Ruby asked.

Emerald shrugged, "Nothing much, probably just hang around the room. What about you?"

"Weiss got us tickets to the Achieve Men concert!" Yang replied, sounding even more excited than she had earlier. "Do you guys wanna come? She could get you tickets too!"

"Maybe," the heiress added. "Like I said, I can't promise anything. I'll call now to see what I can do for JNPR. Should I try to get two more for you?"

Emerald shared a hesitant look with Mercury. It looked like there was a reason they didn't want to go, but didn't want to say. He turned to Yang like he was going to decline and was met by her best attempt at sad puppy eyes. He chuckled and shook his head, "Meh, why not? Em, think Cinder will be mad if I come back late?"

Emerald looked almost perplexed by his answer. She nodded, "Uh, yeah. Very much so."

"Who's Cinder?" Pyrrha asked. "Your team leader?"

"Um, yeah," Emerald quickly replied. "We were uh... just gonna have a team night tonight, she won't be happy if you skip out."

Mercury just shrugged, "Oh well, you guys can still do it without me, right?"

"Well... yeah, I guess. It won't be as easy though."

"Cool," he said before turning back to Yang. "Count me in." She squealed with delight and pulled him into a tight hug, while Emerald looked ready to throttle him. Weiss went about making her call and successfully got the extra tickets, securing the total for the evening. They split up for dinner, and the nine of them that were going regrouped at seven at the airport.

"Are you guys ready to ROCK?" Ruby yelled when everyone had arrived. "I can't believe I'm gonna get to meet Michael, Gavin, and Ray! I'm so pumped!"

Weiss grinned, "Sure, something like that. Just don't get too rowdy, okay? I can get you in the first time, but I can't do anything good if they kick you out."

"Think they'll let us stage dive?" Nora asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought. "That won't get us kicked out, will it?"

"Please don't," Ren immediately replied. "I don't think that's a very good idea."

"Oh don't be such a buzzkill! It'll be great! Can we, Weiss? Can we?"

"We'll see," the heiress replied with an amused smile. "Come on, let's get going."

The long flight only worked to get them more excited, and by the time they got off they were practically ready to sprint to the venue. Weiss picked up their passes from the ticket office and handed them out before they went inside. One of the bouncers led them around backstage, and Ruby screamed when she caught sight of the band. Before anyone could stop her, she dashed over in a flurry of rose petals and stopped in front of them, looking like the biggest fangirl in the world.

"Hiiii!" she half yelled in a sort of dreamy daze.

"Ruby! Get back here!" Weiss called after her, amazed at how quickly her partner could ignore what she'd told her. "Don't be a pest!"

Ray just laughed, "Nah, it's cool. You guys can all come over, we're just chillin' before the show starts."

"Besides, I always love meeting fans," Gavin added. "You lot must be the VIP group. Wanna get a picture in before the show kicks off? It's always really hectic after."

"Of course we do!" Ruby squealed, on the verge of passing out from excitement. Everyone came over to join her and got their pictures in before the sound guys came to get the band miced up. The group followed them to the side of the stage afterwards while the stadium filled up, and finally it was time to start the show.

The band took the stage through thunderous screams and cheers from the audience. Weiss almost went deaf from standing next to Ruby and Yang, but she was still just as excited. Their spot on the stage turned out to be perfect for dancing and jumping around, which almost all of them took advantage of. Blake, Ren, and Mercury weren't quite as animated as the rest of their friends, but they were still having fun and occasionally got pulled into dancing by someone or another.

"Having fun, Blake?" Weiss asked during a pause in the music.

Her girlfriend nodded, "Yeah! This is awesome!" She leaned in for a kiss, but quickly backed off and started to blush. "Whoops, probably not the best place for that."

"Yeahhh... Just a few too many people, don't you think?"

Blake smiled, "I suppose. Eighty thousand does seem like a lot. Maybe seventy-nine thousand would be better." They both laughed, and the next song stated shortly after. Despite how upbeat the music was, they mostly stayed in place for it, keeping close to each other and holding hands. Blake actually didn't mind being subtle here, the idea of kissing in front of so many people was a little unsettling to her. Weiss, however, felt bad for having turned her down. She did sort of want to, but was still terrified by the thought of it.

"Alright, who's having a good time?" Michael shouted as the current song faded out. The stadium screamed as loud as they could in response, as did everyone on stage. "Alright! Hey Ray, wanna slow it down a bit now?"

He thought about it for a second, looking around at the crowd and the girls on stage, then grinned, "Yeah! It looks like we've got a few couples in our VIP section, maybe they'd like to come front and center? How about the lovely Miss Schnee and her girlfriend?"

Blake froze as the spotlights turned on her and Weiss. They were still holding hands and leaning on each other, and it was too late to pretend they weren't together. She took a step back, looking incredibly hesitant, but was surprised when she felt Weiss pull her hand in the direction of the stage. The heiress had a comforting smile on her face, and motioned for Blake to follow her. "A-Are you sure?" the Faunus girl asked.

Weiss smiled back and nodded, "Completely."

She and Blake were met by another loud round of cheers as they walked out, and Blake felt more awkward than ever. "Alright!" Gavin said once the girls were with them. "And what's your name?"

"Blake," she shyly replied. She wasn't sure how to feel at that moment. Weiss seemed okay with them being up there, but that wasn't reassuring enough. The tens of thousands of eyes on them didn't help either.

Ray smiled, "Okay, we've got Weiss and Blake here! How about a love song for the cute couple?"

The music started up, and the band members started pulling Weiss and Blake around the stage with them while they sang. Blake looked pretty uncomfortable at first, but by the middle of the song she was dancing around just as much as everyone else. Weiss could see how much her girlfriend was smiling, and knew she'd made the right choice. At the end of the song they were reunited at center stage, and a loud chant started up amid the cheering in the stands.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" the crowd yelled, along with the rest of their friends on stage. Even the band ended up joining in. Blake shared a nervous look with Weiss, but they both already knew what they were going to do. The heiress shrugged and pulled Blake in for a long kiss, getting a roaring cheer from the audience. They giggled when they separated and hurried off to rejoin their friends, happy to be out of the spotlight.

The group was clapping excitedly for them as they got back, especially Pyrrha. "You guys are too cute," she laughed. "What happened to being discrete?"

Weiss smiled and shrugged, "I'm done hiding it. We're out to the whole world now, and I dare them to saying something about it."

The band played out the rest of their setlist, eventually ending the show by having the VIP group and a few people in the front row come up to join them on stage. Nora got to stage dive after all, and both Yang and Ruby followed after her. After the show the group got one more set of pictures and autographs, but finally had to start heading back once the band had to leave. They waited until the venue and traffic died down first since they weren't in any hurry, and began their walk once the streets were mostly clear again.

"That. Was. AMAZING!" Ruby exclaimed as they left, still dancing to the music playing in her head. "Thanks, Weiss! You're the best friend EVER!"

The heiress shook her head, but smiled as well, "You're very welcome. I take it everyone had a good time?"

"You bet we did!" Nora yelled. They were all talking a little louder than normal because of how high the volume of the concert had been, but Nora was practically screaming. "I think you and Blake had the best time of anyone though."

Blake had been fairly quiet since the kiss on stage, but not for any bad reason. She was mostly overwhelmed by what had happened. ' _I can't believe it,_ ' she thought with a wide smile. ' _She did it! We both did it! We're out, and we're not hiding from anyone!'_

"How about it?" Jaune asked, noticing that Blake was off in her own world.

The Faunus girl nodded, "Yeah, you could say that. So what do we do about your dad?"

"Same plan as before," Weiss replied. "We tell him Sunday, unless he finds out before then. I'm sure a video of that kiss will be everywhere by tomorrow morning."

"If it isn't already," Mercury teased. "You guys went all out there, huh?"

Yang laughed, "No kidding. That was a little more tongue than you should use in public by the way. Just thought I'd let you know."

"Shut up!" Weiss shot back, turning a bright shade of red. "I was excited. I-"

"Shhh, they're just joking," Blake interrupted, then leaned in for another quick kiss. "But maybe less tongue in public couldn't hurt."

She hadn't realised how intimate they'd been on stage at the time, but now that she thought about it she felt a little embarrassed. But, that didn't really matter to her in the grand scheme of the evening. They all split up once they got back and went to their own dorms, except for Yang. She and Mercury said they were going for a walk, and Blake had a sneaking suspicion as to what that actually meant. She didn't say anything about it though, wanting to believe that Yang was going to be responsible for once, but didn't have high hopes. Her partner wasn't back by the time the rest of the team went to bed, so she figured her assumption was right.

Sure enough, Weiss and Blake woke up the next morning to find the video of them plastered all over social media. They cringed while Yang made then watch it over breakfast, almost regretting that it happened at all. Weiss put her head in her hands, "I want to crawl under a rock and die... Is that really how we look when we're kissing?"

"Not always," Yang smirked. "Usually there's less saliva."

"You're disgusting... Well, I guess that's the last time I can ever show my face in public. Blake, would you be opposed to finding a nice cave somewhere we could live in?"

The Faunus girl smiled, "Relax, it's not that bad. I've seen worse displays in public before."

"Yes, but the people in them aren't Schnee's!" Weiss groaned. "If you thought my father would be angry before..."

Ruby gave her partner a comforting pat on the shoulder. "Don't work yourself up over it," she said. "Try to stay positive. Think about what it'll be like if he doesn't have any problems with it!"

"She's right," Yang added. "It doesn't have to be the worst case scenario. You might get lucky."

Blake grinned, "Like you and Mercury last night?" She wasn't initially going to bring it up, but after that comment reminded her about it.

"No, not like me," the blonde replied after sticking out her tongue. "We really did go for a walk. I'm trying to take it slow and set a good example now that Ruby has a boyfriend too."

"So are you and Mercury official now?" her sister asked, purposefully skipping over any number of remarks she could've made.

"I certainly hope so," Weiss said with a smile. "I don't think I've ever seen you as happy as you were with him last night."

Yang nodded, "Yeah, we are! And I have Blake to thank for it. It wouldn't have ever happened if you hadn't talked to me."

Blake smiled, "Any time. It's only fair, you're the reason I worked up the courage to ask Weiss out. We-"

"Oh no..." Weiss suddenly interrupted. She was looking down at her scroll, and her face had gone pale. "I just got a message from my father... He wants me to call him... Right now..."

The table went completely silent. Weiss and Blake exchanged a nervous look, as did Ruby and Yang. Despite everything they'd said before, they quickly realised that they weren't as ready for this as they'd thought. Ruby cleared her throat and went to speak, but couldn't really think of anything to say. "U-Umm..." the leader stuttered, trying to find something helpful for the situation. "Don't panic... Uh... Maybe he wants to congratulate you for acing a test or something?"

Weiss glared at her partner for a moment, but then sighed and let her face soften. She knew Ruby was just trying to help. "I don't know what I'd do without your cheery optimism," she said with a faint smile. "I'd better go to the library to make a video call. I'll see you guys back in the room."

"I'm coming with you," Blake said, standing up when Weiss did. Weiss went to say something in response, but Blake didn't let her. "This involves both of us, and I won't let you do this alone."

Weiss nodded, knowing that there was no way Blake wouldn't be accompanying her, and the two went and returned their trays before starting towards the library. Blake could feel Weiss squeezing her hand harder than normal as they walked. She couldn't blame her, and she was equally as nervous. They'd both been hoping for the best until then, but now they had to keep the worst in mind. It was frightening, but they knew they'd get through it together. They arrived and went straight to the private call booths, not wanting to be out in view of everyone.

"Alright, here goes nothing..." Weiss said in a shaky voice as she docked her scroll to start the call. There was a pause while it connected, which felt like an eternity to them. It was only a few seconds before it went through though, and her father appeared on the screen moments later. She gulped nervously, "H-Hi dad..."

"Hello, Weiss," he greeted her, not sounding very enthused. "Care to enlighten me as to why I received a video of you kissing another girl at that concert?"

"Dad, you know who she is. She's my teammate, Blake, and she's sitting next to me. I know you can see her. She's my girlfriend, we've been together a few weeks now."

Blake gave a shy wave, "Hello, sir."

"And how did you expect to hide this from me?" the heiress' father asked, not even acknowledging Blake.

Weiss shrugged, "I was planning on telling you tomorrow once you got home, but I didn't think you'd see what happened at the concert. Regardless, now you know. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about or can we go now?"

"Do you honestly think I'm just going to let you hang up? Weiss, I don't know how you let her persuade you into such a relationship, but I can't allow it continue. Ours is a reputable name, and I cannot let this tarnish it. I'm sorry."

"As a point of fact, I asked her out, not the other way around," Weiss asserted, although she conveniently left out the part about Blake pursuing her up until then. "And how is us dating going to affect our name in any way? Wait, let me guess, by name you mean the company. As always. Sure, if you suddenly left mom for a man I could see clients breaking away, but not because of your daughter."

Her father shook his head, "Don't make me resort to something more drastic. I'm giving you the chance to end this cleanly now."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then there are three other combat schools you could attend," he coldly replied. "Or, come to think of it, I could always bring you home and start preparing you to take over one day."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Oh please, we both know Winter will be the one to step up. And do you really think transferring me will do anything? I love her, I'll do whatever it takes to see her."

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady," her father said angrily, clearly reaching the end of his patience. "This isn't up for debate, there's too much at stake to let you risk it because of some college fling."

Weiss looked shocked, "College fling? Excuse me? I don't know what exactly you-"

"Can I say something?" Blake interrupted, breaking her silence since the beginning of the call. She took a deep breath before turning her attention to Weiss' father. "Sir, I know you're not happy about this. If your clients are really that bothered by it then we can break it off, but I can't imagine that happening. Your daughter is really special, I don't want to lose her without knowing for sure that I had to. Would you be willing to at least wait until you hear their reactions? Please?"

Weiss nodded and put on the saddest face she could, "Please, daddy?"

Her father's face stayed neutral for a minute while he thought, looking back and forth between Weiss and Blake. Finally, he sighed, "Weiss, I have objections to this beyond simply business. I have to wonder though, is this why you and Winter talked the other night? She told me you called and that you and a 'friend' were on the phone with her for quite a while."

The heiress nodded, "Yeah... Why?"

"I found it odd that you'd call her out of the blue like that. You two were never particularly close. Let me guess, you wanted advice after she came to me with her... last relationship?"

"Well, yeah... I knew you wouldn't be happy about this, and I didn't know how to talk to you about it... I was panicking, I was afraid you'd kick me out..."

"You're right, I'm not happy," he replied, but in a far softer tone than before. Blake was surprised to see it, but that last sentence seemed to have struck a chord with him. He frowned, "But princess, I would never react that harshly. Not for any reason."

' _Oh really?_ ' Blake though, sprouting a hint of an amused smile. ' _We can test that out right now if you'd like._ ' Judging by the look Weiss was giving her, they were both on the same page. It was a serious consideration, but pressing their luck now didn't seem like the best idea.

Weiss just nodded, "Alright... So, does that mean you're okay with this? For now at least?"

"Time will tell. Although, I suppose there are worse people you could bring home to me," her father replied. "No offense, Miss...?"

Blake smiled, "Belladonna. Thank you, sir." She knew he'd find out about her secret eventually, but at least for now it seemed he liked her. Or at least that he could tolerate her.

He nodded, "I believe that's everything then. Weiss, I look forward to meeting your team over spring break. Especially you, Blake. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another call I need to make. Goodbye."

The call ended, and both girls gave a sigh of relief. Weiss smiled, wiping a few beads of sweat off her forehead, "Well... I suppose that could've gone worse. Much worse. A maybe is a lot more than I was expecting."

"I'll take it," Blake said before wrapping Weiss in a python-like hug. She let go when she noticed Weiss couldn't breath, and grinned from ear to ear. "Do you think he was serious about wanting to meet me? I mean, I know he does, but do you think he meant it in a good or a bad way?"

The heiress shrugged once she caught her breath, "I don't know... Hopefully we get that far. If the shareholders or any of his partners want to back out it won't matter."

"Let's not worry about that right now. We've got a yes for the moment, so let's enjoy it."

Weiss smiled and unplugged her scroll, and noticed she had a new message. "Ruby texted me during the call," the heiress said, opening the message. "She said, 'Good news?' and added a smiley face to the end. Yeah, I'd say this is pretty good news."

 **Hope it was worth the wait! If you're interested, I'll be putting out the original version for my sponsors tomorrow. (Things were going to go far, far worse. But not necessarily in the way you'd think. I like this arc better though.) Again, don't feel like you have to be a patron, but I'll always give little extra bits out for people that are. (:**

 **Thank you to my glowing Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	12. Bad to the Bone

Chapter 12: Bad to the Bone

"I'm so happy for you!" Ruby exclaimed after Weiss and Blake returned to tell how the call had gone. "Do you think that anyone will be upset enough to make you have to split up?"

Blake shrugged, "I doubt it. Homophobic or not, I can't imagine us dating being enough for people break away from one of the biggest companies in Remnant."

"Let's hope," Weiss sighed. "Do you think we handled it alright? I feel like I could've done a better job trying to convince him rather than just arguing."

"I'm really proud of how you handled it. It's nice to see your Schneeness used on the person who taught it to you."

"I'm actually kinda surprised," Yang commented. "No offense, Weiss, but you've never struck me as someone bad enough to defy your dad like that."

The heiress huffed and crossed her arms, "It's not like I just told him off. We talked it over, I'm just saying I think I could've done a better job. And besides, I can be plenty 'bad.' Just because I'm not as crazy as you doesn't mean I'm not."

Ruby snickered, "Uhhh, yeah... no. I'm with Yang on this one. You like to bend the rules a bit, but you never really just break them. The last authority figure I can remember you fighting with was Professor Port, and that was only after you were so upset with me for how I'd been as a leader."

"Hey! I can be just as bad as anyone here! I'll-"

"Please don't," Blake interrupted with a soft smile. "Whatever you're thinking of, just no. No need to prove anything here. C'mon, let's just relax for a while. I could really use it after that call."

The morning turned into a lazy afternoon, with everyone just hanging around the room. They brought sandwiches back for lunch, basically encouraging themselves to not go anywhere at all. As the afternoon turned into early evening, Weiss started to feel like she needed a change of scenery. She'd mostly spent the day reading, and wasn't really looking at much else, but she wanted a new venue for a little while. She had just finished her book as well, so that was a good enough excuse for her to get up.

"I think I'll head to the library for a bit," Weiss said after a while.

"Mind if I join you?" Ruby asked, getting a nod in return.

"Have fun," Yang said as they started out. "Don't forget, we're meeting team JNPR for dinner in half an hour."

The pair made their way to the library and found a quiet table back in the lounge area. Weiss picked out a new book and started reading while Ruby walked around looking for one herself. It was a while before she say down, and Weiss couldn't help but feel there was something off with her once she saw the book her partner had chosen. "Is that a book on relationships?" she asked, making Ruby's cheeks turn a light red. "Is everything okay? Did something happen with you and Sun?"

"Nothing happened, but uh... c-can I talk to you something?" Ruby sheepishly asked, hiding her face in her book. "It's about Sun and me and... sex and stuff..."

Weiss looked almost shocked at the subject at hand, "Whoa whoa whoa, hold up. Are you telling me that you two...?"

"Wha? Oh, no, not yet. It could happen soon though, and I'm kinda nervous. Oh, and I need you to swear you won't say anything to Yang about this."

"Wouldn't you rather talk to Blake?" Weiss asked. "She has a little more experience in this area than I do."

Ruby shook her head, "Well, yeah... but I'm afraid something will slip. I'd trust Blake with any secret in the world, but if Yang found out about this she'd literally castrate Sun."

"Fair enough... Well, I guess just ask me whatever. If nothing else, I'm sure I can be more helpful than that book."

"Okay, so before I ask anything, I need to tell you that we kinda lied," Ruby chuckled. "Remember when Sun got Yang's permission to date me? Weeeell, we'd sorta already been seeing each other for a week before that."

Weiss gasped, but it was more out of amusement than surprise, "Are you serious? So that whole thing was set up?"

"Mhm! I did my best to hide it before then, and I think I did an okay job. Anyway, the first night we got together there was a lot of kissing and just normal stuff. We've been moving sorta fast, which I'm perfectly okay with by the way, and I think we might end up... you know... soon. We've done some hand stuff already, I'm just a little nervous about going all the way."

"Didn't need to know that hand part... If you're nervous, it could mean you're not ready," Weiss replied. She didn't really want to push Ruby toward this, but also didn't want to outright tell her not to. "You shouldn't rush these things, especially at your age."

Her leader pouted, "I may be a little younger than you guys, but I'm not a little kid. To be honest I really, really want to, I'm just nervous about it being my first time. I was just looking for some advice."

"I don't really have any. I've never slept with anyone before. The only things I can say are to be safe, use protection, and stop if you don't feel comfortable. You should probably just talk to Blake. She'd be a lot more helpful than me."

"I was afraid of that..." Ruby sighed. "Alright, I guess I will. I shouldn't be afraid she'll blab, I'm just scared of Yang's reaction. Can you imagine what she'd do if she found out?"

Weiss gave a sympathetic smile, "You know that above all else, Yang just wants you to be safe. Honestly, going to her with this might not be a bad idea. She won't be thrilled with the idea of it, but you know she'd be so happy that you came to her about it."

"I guess... I dunno, I'll think about. Maybe I'll say something tonight, but I'll need to think of a good way to ease into it. Just dropping a bomb like that wouldn't go over well."

"Well duh," Weiss laughed. "If you need help with that, just ask. But I want you to be sure of everything before-"

"Weiss, I am," Ruby interrupted. "Don't treat me like I'm five. I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm getting into, and I know I want to."

The heiress smiled and nodded, "Good. I'm sorry if I baby you sometimes. It's not intentional."

"I know, and it's fine. I don't always act like the most mature adult. So while we're on the subject of me and Sun, how're things with you and Blake? I'm sure you're both pretty happy after this morning, but I just mean in general, how're things going?"

"Really well," Weiss beamed. "I don't think I've ever been as happy as I have been with her. It's just amazing. I do feel like I could do a little more though."

"Whatdya mean?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed, "I don't know, I guess I feel like I'm always so hesitant to act like a couple. I know there are tons of things Blake wants us to do, but I'm always so afraid to try."

"Maybe you should just jump straight in," Ruby grinned, laughing slightly that hers was the exact opposite of the advice Weiss had given her. "It can be scary to step out of your comfort zone. How do you think I felt when I first came here? I didn't know anyone, I was shy, I was nervous. But once I actually talked to people I managed to come out of my shell, and look where it's gotten me!"

"You're still a dolt in my eyes," Weiss joked. "Thank you, that actually does sound like a good idea. I need to be adventurous for once."

"The little things can be pretty big too. I can't speak for Blake, but when I'm with Sun, just holding hands, a kiss on the cheek while we're walking, and stuff like that can mean a lot. Show her that you care."

Weiss smiled, "Now that's the mature adult Ruby. She doesn't come out a lot, but she's really helpful when she does."

Her leader blushed, and the two continued to chat for another few minutes before heading to meet everyone for dinner. Weiss kept Ruby's advice in mind as they arrived and greeted Blake with a kiss. Blake instantly perked up from the gesture, and Weiss couldn't help but smile too. ' _Wow, I never realised these things matter so much,_ ' she thought. ' _But, clearly they do. I should just learn to accept that Ruby is usually right. Usually. I need to think of something a little bigger to do for Blake. Not necessarily crazy bit, I know she doesn't like that, but definitely something meaningful... Hmm... What's something she's really passionate about?_ '

"So what's everyone up to tonight?" Jaune asked once they'd all sat down. "Anything we could all do together?"

Ruby shrugged, "I dunno. What would everyone be up for?"

"How about Cards Against Mankind?" Nora suggested. "I love when I can play 'Chicks with cute cat ears' against Blake."

"It's not as funny as you think," the Faunus girl said flatly.

Weiss smiled and gave her girlfriend a quick scratch at the base of her bow, "In her defense, your ears are adorable. I'd be up for that. Anyone else?"

Pyrrha shook her head, "I don't know, Nora gets a little too crazy sometimes. I'm pretty sure what we ended on last game could've started a brawl in the wrong company."

"That's because I'm just that bad," Nora said in a sweet and innocent tone.

"Yeah, right," Yang laughed. "You need to do a little more than play a card game for that. Plus, you'll always just end up getting compared to me."

Nora smirked, "What, you really think you're the baddest gal around? Cuz I've got you beat in every way possible."

"I know I am," Yang replied with an equally evil smile. "Care to put your money where your mouth is? Like oh, I don't know, a dare contest? OH! That's what we could tonight!"

"You are so on! No money though. Winner decides the loser's punishment."

"Hey, wait," Ruby interjected. "Why is it only you two? I bet I could beat you both!"

Weiss thought about it for a second, and realised that this could be her opportunity to step out of her comfort zone. Not in a way to related to Blake, but it would be a chance to show that she could keep up with everyone. "I'm in too," the heiress said, getting a mix of shocked and amused faces from her friends.

Nora continued to grin, "Alright, that settles it. All eight of us are doing this! Come on, let's go back to our room and get this party started!"

Ren sighed, "Can I eat first?"

They finished their dinners while continuing to jeer at each other, then headed back to team JNPR's dorm. They started talking over the rules as they walked, and had them all down by the time they arrived. Jaune went to his closet and brought out a hat, then started writing everyone's names on strips on paper. He put them all in the hat and handed it to Pyrrha so she could get things started.

"Okay, I'll go over the rules again," Pyrrha said, walking to the middle of the room with the hat. "All of our names are on these pieces of paper. At the start of each round you pick a name, and that's who gets to dare you. Then, that person picks until we've all gone. If you refuse the dare then you're out. Dare rules: No dares that could get the person expelled, arrested, or seriously hurt. If you think a dare is too extreme, we'll decide as a group if you can get a new one. Otherwise, anything goes. Winner gets a free dare on whoever finishes in second that we can't veto, so long as it abides by the rules. Anything we should add?"

Everyone seemed okay with what had been said, except for Nora. "How seriously is seriously hurt?" she asked, sounding a little disappointed by that rule in particular.

Jaune rolled his eyes, "Nothing that could send someone to the hospital. So who starts?"

"I will!" Yang shouted. She walked over and plucked a name from the hat, looking relieved when she saw the name on it. "Ruby. Whatcha got for me, sis?" She had expected her sister to go easy on her, but that wouldn't turn out to be the case.

Ruby wore an evil smile, "I dare you to run a lap around campus."

Yang glared at her, but wasn't about to go out this early on something like that. Campus was fairly large though, and the run took her about twenty minutes to do. She came back panting and covered in sweat, but she'd done it. "You'd better hope you don't pull my name," she grunted, not happy with how the game was going so far.

Ruby shrugged and went to pick a name. "Ren," she smiled after reading it, knowing she'd gotten off easy. The first two rounds were fairly tame, with nobody dropping out yet. It wasn't until round three that Jaune, Ren, and Blake didn't want to do the dares they were given, but mostly because they didn't really want to play in the first place. Pyrrha was out next after she refused Nora's dare to play with her shirt off, and soon after it seemed that Weiss would be the next to go.

It was Yang's turn to dare her, and the blonde wasn't showing any mercy. She smiled wickedly, "I dare you to get me a soda from the machine down the hall... in only your underwear."

' _Fuuuuuudge..._ ' Weiss thought angrily, regretting that she'd gotten herself into this. ' _Is this worth it? I know I agreed to this so I could come out on top, but... this could end badly. Actually, I guess this isn't too bad a dare. Wait, no, it is pretty bad. But, I can make her pay for it if she pulls my name._ '

The heiress huffed and stripped down to her underwear, much to the surprise of her friends. Even Yang hadn't expected her to go through with it. Jaune and Ruby shyly looked away, but no one else really minded. Blake wasn't going to admit it, but she was actually fairly excited from seeing her girlfriend in just her ice-blue bra and panties. Weiss took a deep breath before calmly walking out of the room, then sprinted as fast as she could to get the soda and come back. She slowed down when she came back through the door and casually tossed the can to Yang with a bored smile.

"Done. Your turn," she said while she got back into her outfit.

Yang pouted at Weiss before pulling out a name, and groaned once she read it. "Nora."

"Hmm... I dare you to send Mercury a topless photo."

Yang looked at her quizzically for a moment, then stopped to think about whether it was really worth it. Blake was surprised to see that reaction from her partner, but was glad to. _'I'm proud of her,_ ' the Faunus girl thought. ' _The old Yang would've done that in a heartbeat. If she's hesitating, then that means she's really serious about him._ '

The blonde spent another few seconds thinking it over, then sagged her shoulders and sighed. "I... I can't do it," she said. "We've been taking it slow, and I wanna keep it that way. Well played, Nora. I'm out. Ruby, Weiss, you'd better not let her win."

The dares only got more and more embarrassing and strange after that, and finally Ruby went out when she wouldn't text Sun an awkward message Nora had told her to. Weiss found it a bit ironic after their conversion earlier that afternoon. That left just her and Nora, and it was her turn to give the dare. Nora shook her head after she looked at the heiress' face, "I have a bad feeling about this."

The heiress gave an innocent, confused look, "What, are you afraid of what I'll dare you to do...? Good, you should be, because I dare you... to play the rest of the game completely naked."

"Uhh... Can I get a ruling on that?" Nora asked, sounding worried for the first time since the game started. While that didn't directly break any rules, she knew that any dare after this would mean trouble. Weiss knew that too, which was exactly why she'd gone this route. She knew she could trap Nora with perfectly innocent dares that would be excruciating when paired with this one.

Pyrrha gave a shy shrug, "It's not against the rules... I guess you have to do it, or Weiss is the winner."

Nora grumbled for a minute, but ultimately went through with it. She was the last person here who'd be afraid of something like this, and she wanted to win. She tossed all of her clothes to the side and turned back to Weiss with a look of pure hatred. "Alright, no more playing around," she smirked. "I dare you to go downstairs and flash team CRDL for a full ten seconds."

"Objection," Blake cut in. "You know they'll take pictures in that time, and they'd spread them everywhere. That would have really serious repercussions."

Jaune nodded along with everyone else, "I agree, gotta pick something else."

"Fiiiine," Nora groaned. "I guess you need boobs to flash someone anyway. Hmm... Well, since Blake decided to veto my last dare... Weiss, I dare you to kiss Blake on the lips. BUT, not the ones on her face."

The room went completely silent, and all eyes turned to Blake. Everyone expected that Nora would be the one to escalate things way too far, and it had finally happened. Blake turned a bright shade of red, as did Weiss and practically everyone else, but they all knew that this wasn't breaking any rules. "Umm..." Weiss said nervously. "C-Can we do this somewhere else?"

Nora shook her head, "Nope, right here. Everyone else can look away, but I have to watch you, in a totally non-creepy way, to know that you actually did it."

' _Fuck,_ ' Blake thought in annoyance. ' _This is why I don't ever agree to anything._ ' She and Weiss exchanged a look, which was there way of silently deciding whether or not to do it. Weiss looked incredibly apprehensive, but she knew that she could win if she didn't back out here. Blake didn't seem to be vehemently opposed, so in the end they decided it was going to happen.

"Alright, fine," Weiss said, although she didn't sound upset. Instead, she sounded rather smug. "But you're in for a world of hurt afterwards. Especially after that comment about my boobs! Everyone needs to look away."

Ruby and Jaune were already looking away because of Nora, but now the rest of the group except for Nora listened and turned their heads. Nora gave them an amused look and gestured for them to get on with it. Blake sighed, "Are you sure about this? If you wanna back out-"

"And give Nora the satisfaction of beating me?" Weiss asked, sounding disgusted by the idea of it. "Not a chance. She's going down. And besides, I want to prove that I can be just as bad as any of you. Now, drop your pants. Let's get this over with."

"Alright, if you're sure. But you'd better have a good dare for her." The Faunus girl sighed and pulled her shorts and underwear down enough for Weiss to get in. Once again, she was incredibly excited by the dare, but did her best to hide it. Weiss took a nervous breath and planted an incredibly quick kiss before jerking her head back as fast as she could, wiping her mouth as Blake pulled her pants back up.

"Huh," Weiss said in surprise. "That actually wasn't bad... Okay, you guys can look again."

"Can we though?" Jaune asked, still feeling shy about seeing his teammate in the nude.

Nora rolled her eyes, "Oh grow up. Alright, Schnee, whatcha got for me?"

"It's pretty simple," Weiss replied, looking very pleased with what she had in mind. "We've actually had this one already. I just want you to run a lap around the school."

It was still fairly light out, and there were plenty of students and teachers walking around. Nora stood still for a minute while she thought it over, and everyone was surprised to see how seriously she was considering it. Ren shook his head, "Please don't do it. It's not worth the embarrassment."

"But I can't let her wiiiin!" Nora whined. She paced around in a circle for another minute to keep thinking it over, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Gah! I hate you! I... I can't do it. You... You w- No! You know what? I'm not losing this! You'll have to do a lot better than that!"

With that, she sprinted out of the room. Her run only took half as long as Yang's, and the way she looked when she got back reflected that. She practically fell through the door, wheezing from how fast she'd run to keep people from seeing her. She was exhaust, dripping with sweat, and violently embarrassed, but she'd done it. Now it was her turn again, and she intended to get revenge. Weiss took a nervous step back after seeing the fire burning in the back of Nora's eyes. "R-Remember the rules," she stuttered. "They can veto you from anything too extreme."

"I know," Nora replied, still panting heavily. "But I know exactly what to do. I dare you to go find a live spider and eat it. It has to still be alive when you first chew."

Ruby made a squeamish face, "Ewwww! That's disgusting!"

"But not against the rules! What'll it be, Weiss?"

The heiress had turned a sickly shade of green, and her hand had flown to her mouth after a sudden wave of nausea came over her. She shook her head, "I don't think I can... Blake, help me decide?"

"Gladly," the Faunus girl replied. "If you do it, don't expect me to kiss you for a week or two."

"Good argument. I'm out. You win, Nora." She wasn't happy to say it, but she was still happy with herself for how well she'd done. She knew she'd proved her point enough by outlasting Yang, but she still would've liked to win it all. There was, however, one thing she only remembered after she admitted defeat that she wasn't too happy about.

"Yes!" Nora cheered, then immediately put her clothes back on. "I'm queen of the dares! And that means that you, Weiss Schnee, are getting a veto free dare from me!"

"Uh oh..." Weiss groaned. "Nothing too bad... please?"

Nora smirked and crossed her arms, "Not likely. You made me do a naked lap around the school, remember? So, to get appropriate payback, I dare you to not wear any clothes until Monday. You can only get dressed again before your first class."

"Oh come on! Seriously? I... You... But... Can-?"

"Nope!" Nora interrupted. "You must learn a very important lesson... NEVER MESS WITH THE QUEEN! Now clothes off!"

Weiss sighed, "Can I at least go back to my room first?"

"Well... Alright, I'll allow it. But I'll be by to check that you're not just ignoring it."

Yang grinned, "Don't worry, I won't let her. I very much enjoy Weiss being uncomfortable."

The two teams said goodnight, and team RWBY went back across the hall to their room. Weiss begrudgingly got underdressed and dashed under her covers while everyone else got into their pajamas. "Well, I guess I won't be getting out of bed until Monday," she grumbled.

Ruby giggled, "Well, going out of the room at least. I think we've all seen each other naked at some point or another in the locker room."

"Yeah, for a second or two while we changed! Ugh... Why did I do this again?"

"Hey, you proved your point at least," Yang replied. "I have to admit, I didn't think you could beat me, but you did. I like seeing this side of you, the much more fun, adventurous side. It suits you. Anyway, I'm gonna go hang with Mercury for a while. Catch you guys later!"

Ruby smiled, "I'll walk with you. Sun's room is just down the hall from his."

"Have fun!" Blake called after them as they left. She waited until the door had closed, then turned to Weiss' bed with a devious grin. The heiress had her face buried in her pillow, so Blake silently crept up to her bed and got ready to pounce. She waited for Weiss to roll over, then leapt on top of her and pinned her hands to the bed from above the covers.

"AH! WHAT THE FUCK?" Weiss exclaimed in surprise, trying to free herself. "Get off! I'm naked, remember?"

Blake nodded, "Of course I remember. That doesn't mean you don't wanna snuggle, does it?"

Weiss looked almost confused at first, then started to blush. "I uh... I guess it would be okay," she smiled. "You're not gonna be naked too though, right...?"

Blake shook her head and gave Weiss a gentle kiss on the lips. "Maybe next time," she purred before slipping under the sheets. She pressed herself up against Weiss' back, putting her hands on the heiress' waist and resting her forehead against her neck. Weiss felt a little awkward at first, but that faded in a flash. Even if she did feel exposed, she loved the feeling of Blake being this close to her more.

' _Next time, huh?_ ' Weiss thought, smiling at the idea. ' _Maybe it's just because of Ruby bringing it up earlier, but taking that step doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Anyway, back to something big to do for Blake... You know what? I'm going big. Really, really big. It's a bit of a stretch, but I bet I could pull it off._ '

 **Hello! It's that time! VOLUME THREE! I'm gonna see what I can do with writing alongside the episodes released, so we'll have to wait and see what happens there. Obviously I won't suddenly make Weiss and Blake split up if Blake and Sun become canon this volume, but I'll do my best to stick with the major plot points. Should be fun! As always, be sure to follow, favourite, and review. I always love to hear what your guys have to say, be it praise, critique, or hate. :) And if you'd like to help support me, check out my page! I just did a quick overhaul of the rewards and stuff, so if you've been on the fence or haven't checked it out yet, you should. :)**

 **Thank you to my awesome Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	13. A Big Step Forward

Chapter 13: A Big Step Forward

Weiss spent the entirety of the next day making calls on her scroll since she refused to leave the room. Nobody on the phone could see that she was naked, so it worked out perfectly. She was incredibly secretive about what she was doing, especially to Blake, which started to draw up some suspicion as to what she was doing. When it finally came into question near the end of the day, all she said was to wait. ' _I really hope this works,_ ' Weiss thought, feeling both excited and anxious. ' _I can't wait to see Blake's face._ '

Two weeks passed, and Weiss' anticipation had only grown with each passing day. Not only was tomorrow her and Blake's one month anniversary, and the day she'd planned for her surprise to be unveiled, but it was also the start of Vytal Festival Tournament. Everyone had stepped up their game in terms of training, and it only made the thought of their first match that much more stressful for her. Adding to that the number of calls she continued to need to make to get her surprise put through in time, and she was exhausted. But, she knew it would all be worth it once everything was though. Weiss wasn't the only one planning a big surprise though. Blake had been thinking of something for them to do as well, and tonight was the night she'd been waiting for.

It was about seven o'clock when the team got back to their room after another post-dinner sparring match. They were all pretty tired, and getting a good night's sleep was on the top of their to-do list in preparation for tomorrow. There was still some time left in the day though, so Blake wasn't going to let her surprise go to waste. "Weiss, don't get changed just yet," she said when she noticed Weiss was moving toward her pajamas. "I've got something special planned tonight."

The heiress smiled, "Is that so? Go on. Just remember that we shouldn't stay out too late tonight."

"I know, I know. Here, let's put on something a little more low-key and head out. You do own casual clothes, right?"

Weiss glared at her girlfriend for a second before grabbing some clothes from her dresser and going to the bathroom to change. She emerged a few minutes later in pair of designer jeans, and a black t-shirt with her emblem on the front. She'd also let her hair down and went to switch her heels for a pair of red sneakers. Blake didn't mind changing with people in the room, and had already switched her vest and blouse for a light grey t-shirt that also had her emblem. Her shorts and stockings were still fine to wear, but she also switched her heels for sneakers. She had also taken off her bow and neatly folded it up before grabbing a black beanie to cover her ears.

"Much better," Blake smiled, looking Weiss up and down. "You look really hot in jeans. Just saying. Come on, let's get going."

"Actually..." Ruby said, catching their attention before they started to leave. "Can you guys stay in the room for a minute? I wanna talk about something."

Weiss looked concerned, "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"Ruby?" Yang asked, not liking her sister's nervous tone.

"I'm fine," their leader reassured them, but didn't sound confident. "I need to tell you something, Yang."

' _Uh oh,_ ' Weiss thought, immediately knowing where this was heading. ' _I hope she knows what she's doing, especially since the tournament is tomorrow. Having Yang upset for the match won't end well._ '

"What's going on?" the blonde asked. "Why do you need them here if you're talking to me?"

Ruby sighed, "Yang, I need you to promise me that you won't freak out. Please?"

Her sister looked confused and worried, but reluctantly nodded. "Okay... What's going on?" she asked, starting to sound concerned.

Ruby shared a nervous look with Weiss and Blake, then took a long, deep breath. "Alright, here it is. I-I wanted to... to ask you about... m-my first time..."

Yang cocked her head to the side, "First time? What do you...?" She trailed off, realising what her sister was talking about, and her eyes began to shift from their normal lavender to a bright red. "Ruby... are you telling me that Sun... He asked you to...? I'm... I'M... I'M GONNA FUCKING MURDER HIM!"

She turned and went to charge out of the room, but Weiss and Blake were waiting, and grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her firmly in place. "Calm down!" Blake shouted, feeling a searing heat in her hands from Yang's semblance.

"NO!" Yang screamed, trying to break free. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT FUCK WOULD MAKE RUBY-"

"HE DIDN'T! I DID!" Ruby yelled over her sister.

Yang immediately spun back around, the fire in her eyes dying down and was replaced with utter confusion. "W-What? You asked him...? But... I don't understand... You're... I mean, you're just..."

"Yang, I'm not a little kid," Ruby said with a faint smile. "I know I'm a little younger, but I'm just as much of an adult as you are. I want to take this step. I'm ready for this part of a real, adult relationship. I want to, I really do. I just... I'm nervous. I wanted to talk to you about it."

Yang looked almost crushed by what had been said. She looked to Weiss and Blake for what to say, and they simply nodded for her to listen. The blonde looked like she was ready to cry, and gave a heavy sigh, "I-I... Okay... We can talk, absolutely. I'm... I'm not happy, but... I'd rather you be safe. Blake, Weiss, you can head out. I'll be alright to handle this."

Blake smiled and nodded, "Alright. Promise me you won't confront Sun thought, okay? I want to be there if- scratch that, when you do."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Alright, go have fun on your date. Ruby and I have a lot to go over."

The couple left the room and shut the door behind them, letting out a sigh of relief once they were out in the hallway. Weiss put her hand on her forehead, "Wow... I was expecting way more of a meltdown. Do you think Yang's really okay?"

"I think so," Blake replied, taking the heiress' free hand. "Come on, let's get going." They walked hand in hand to the airships, and boarded the next flight into town. Blake was a little surprised at how much Weiss was on her scroll for the flight, but didn't say anything, figuring it was something school related. After they landed, she led them through the streets with a particular destination in mind. Finally, they came to a stop outside the same mall they'd had their first day out together at.

Weiss smiled, "I like where this is going. What did you have in mind we do here?"

"I dunno," Blake shrugged. "Last time we came here it wasn't as a couple, and there's plenty of things we can do here now that we are. Nothing too crazy though. That's why I wanted to be in casual clothes tonight. Just two normal girls out on a nice, normal date."

"That sounds wonderful. But mark my words, I will succeed in spoiling you one day."

Blake just grinned and rolled her eyes, and started walking toward the doors. They walked inside and up to the directory to see what all there was for them to do. Their first stop was Weiss' pick, and it was to the pet store to look around and play with some of the animals. As expected, Blake was drawn straight to the cats and stayed away from the dogs at first, but after Weiss showed her a particularly cute puppy, even she was happy to pet her furry enemies. They were having a wonderful time, but Weiss decided to move on once she saw Blake beginning to eye up these fish. Not that Weiss thought she would try to eat them, but they had been in there for long enough anyway.

"Alright, it's your pick now," Weiss said once they were out of the store.

"We could always-" Blake began, but was suddenly distracted by something behind Weiss. "Francis? Hey, Francis!"

Weiss spun around to see a boy their age starting back at Blake with wide eyes and a big smile. "Blake! Hey, how've you been?" he asked, running up and giving her a hug. "I haven't seen you in a long time."

Blake smiled back, "It's really great to see you again! Weiss, this is Francis. He and I were almost inseparable as kids in the White Fang."

Weiss was surprised to hear that he was a Faunus, but then noticed the tips of horns poking through his hair. "Nice to meet you," she said warmly, extending her arm out to him.

"Weiss? As in Weiss Schnee?" he asked sceptically. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?"

Blake laughed, "Relax, she's not like her father. We're actually on a date right now for our one month anniversary."

"Wow, wasn't expecting that," he said in surprise, but then smiled and shook Weiss' waiting hand. "Well, if Blake says you're alright, then that's good enough for me. How'd you two meet?"

Weiss smiled, "We're on a team together at Beacon. We got off to a bit of a rocky start, but I was a different person back then."

"Very," Blake chuckled. "So what've you been up to the past year?"

Francis shrugged, "Eh, nothing much. I'm still with the White Fang, but not nearly as involved as I used to be. I help out with small stuff when they need me, but I've given up robberies and stuff. Well hey, I don't wanna hold you up on your big date, but I'd love to catch up some time. Still have my number?"

Blake nodded, "Of course. I'll text you tonight. Maybe you could come up for that Vytal Festival? We could get lunch, you could watch our matches."

"Sounds great," he smiled. "Alright, I'll catch ya later!"

They hugged again and said goodbye, leaving Blake smiling from joy and Weiss out of amusement. "Was that your boyfriend before Adam?" Weiss asked.

Blake made a face and shook her head, "Eww, no! He's like my brother! I was just really surprised to see him. It's been a really long time, especially for how long I've known him."

"You know, I still don't know a lot about your past," Weiss pointed out.

"Well, that's because there really isn't much more to know. I grew up in the White Fang, that's about it. It was always the same thing, day after day. Fighting for equality, trying to survive, hoping that the next day would be better than the one before."

Weiss smiled, "Well, you don't need to do that any more."

"Thankfully," Blake replied, but didn't seem very happy. "We're still not equal though. We've got a long way to go for something like that."

Weiss quietly chuckled to herself, happy that she knew something Blake didn't. But that wouldn't come into play today. She leaned in for a peck on the cheek, "Don't worry. We'll get there. Come on, let's get back to our date."

Their next stop was Blake's idea, and it was to the carousel at the centre of the mall. It was a little childish, but it was cheap to ride and she wanted to do something a little different. Weiss got a call while they were in line though, and ending up passing on the ride to continue it. Blake was incredibly annoyed, especially with how much time the heiress had spent on her scroll already tonight, and was getting more and more fed up the longer the call went on.

"Sorry about that," Weiss said once she had hung up.

Blake sighed, "It's fine... May I ask who it was that called?"

"Oh, it uh-" Weiss was cut off when her scroll went off again. "Crap... I need to take this."

"Weiss, this is supposed to be a special night..." Blake said sadly. "Who's calling you so much that you have to pick up every time?"

"Nothing," Weiss replied, turning away a bit. "I just need a minute."

Weiss took the call and deliberately tried to keep Blake from hearing any of it, which only made her more upset. Blake tried to listen in, her curiosity getting the better of her, and the small snippet she heard only brought up more questions.

' _Councilman? Why is she talking to a councilman?_ ' Blake wondered after hearing the title. ' _I wonder if something happened with her dad. Would their company getting sued be a reason to reach out to the governing council? Maybe... That still seems off though. Something is up, and I can't imagine that it's good._ '

When Weiss finally hung up, she turned back to see Blake staring angrily back at her. "What's going on?" the Faunus girl demanded. "Why are you being so secretive? You've been doing this a lot lately, and it's really getting on my nerves."

Weiss shook her head, "Don't worry about it. I-"

"I will worry about it! I wanted to have a nice night, but you've been on your scroll the entire time! If you didn't want to come you should've just stayed back in the room."

"Don't say that, of course I want to be here," Weiss said, starting to feel upset herself.

"Then act like it! If you pull out your scroll again, I'm leaving."

Weiss gasped, "No, don't! I'm sorry... I am making important calls though, I can't just ignore them."

"Then tell me what they're about," Blake said flatly. "The fact that you're being so secretive is worrying me more than anything."

"I-I... I can't tell you that," Weiss stammered, wanting to keep it a complete surprise. "Just trust me that it's nothing bad, and it's really important. Please?"

Blake sighed, "Fine... If whoever it is calls again, can you at least tell them you're busy?"

"Alright," Weiss smiled. "I'm sorry, I've been a lousy girlfriend tonight. I promise that all my attention will be on you for the rest of the night."

Weiss did get another call not long after that, but told them she was busy just like she'd promised. Blake was still suspicious, but wasn't going to let that ruin their evening. They spent the rest of the evening browsing through a few different stores, and made their way home once they decided it was getting late. Blake was surprised at how affectionate Weiss was on the flight back, and felt a little bad. She figured it was because she'd yelled at her and, although she liked the extra attention, didn't like why it was coming. In reality though, it was Weiss' growing anticipation for tomorrow that had her so excited and wanting to show it. This evening had primed it even more, and she couldn't wait to reveal what she'd been working so hard on.

They got back to the room and found Ruby and Yang laying in their beds, not really doing much of anything. Yang immediately perked up when they got home though. "Good, you're home!" she said as she jumped out of her bunk. "Blake, I need you for something. Let's go!"

Before she had a chance to argue, Blake was grabbed by the wrist and pulled back out the door and down the hallway. "What are you doing?" she asked, trying to free her arm.

The brawler slowed down and released her grip, grinning widely. "We're gonna go visit Sun," she said cheerfully.

"Yang..." Blake replied with a worried look. "Why are we-"

"Chill, it's nothing bad. You said you wanted to be with me when I did though," Yang said before knocking on team SSSN's door.

Sun came to answer and immediately turned pale when he saw who was at the door, knowing exactly why she was here. He looked to Blake for how to react, but her gaze was gentle and said to just act normal. He loudly gulped and cleared his throat, "H-Hi guys. What's up? Uh, you're not gonna punch me, are you?"

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you," Yang laughed. "I just wanted to say that I'm okay with what's going with you and Ruby. She talked to me about you guys and wanting to take things to the next level, and I'm okay with. I can tell how much she likes you, how much you like her, and I'm happy for you. Just be safe and responsible. Remember that if anything happens to her, you still answer to me."

Sun smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I gotcha. Don't worry, nothing bad's gonna happen. We talked about it too, and we're probably gonna wait to take that step until she turns sixteen."

"I know, she mentioned that too. My only condition with all of this is that I stay completely unaware of whatever you do in private. Sound good?"

"Works for me," Sun chuckled. "Well hey, thanks for coming by. And, ya know, not killing me."

"No problem! Besides, there's a lot of paperwork if I do. Aight, later!"

They said goodbyes and the girls started back to their dorm, and Blake couldn't hide her smile. "Who are you, and what have you done with Yang?" she joked, getting a weird look from Yang. "You handled that really well."

Yang smiled, "Thanks. I did mean it by the way. I really am okay with him and Ruby. Do I wanna see it? Hell no. But she's clearly happy, and I'm not gonna stop that. It's funny, I thought I'd hate it, but it kinda makes me happy to watch her grow up. She really is more mature than we give her credit for."

"She's not the only one growing up," Blake replied, making Yang start to blush.

Meanwhile, back in the room, Weiss and Ruby were having a conversion of their own. "OH MY GOD!" Ruby exclaimed, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth from just how shocked she was. "Are you serious?"

Weiss grinned, "Yup. Not a bad one month anniversary present, huh?"

"UH YEAH! Holy crap, Weiss! Do you get how big that is?"

"Of course," the heiress smiled. "Just another reason it's so perfect. I suppose the only downside is that there's absolutely no way I can get her a better present."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "You're unbelievable. I-" She stopped when the doorknob turned and Blake and Yang walked back inside.

"All done!" Yang proclaimed. "So what were you guys talking about?"

Weiss put on an innocent face and shrugged, "Oh, nothing."

The next morning came with a lot of excitement, but also a lot of nerves. As excited as everyone was for their first match, they knew that they'd be going up against older kids, more experienced teams, and that this was by no means going to be easy. RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN got an early breakfast at the fairgrounds and spent the time up until team RWBY was called to talk about some last minute strategies. At last their names were called and they reported in. Ruby smiled when she saw the looks of near panic on the faces of her teammates, "Alright guys, this is what we've been training for. Well, part of it at least. Let's get out there and kick some butt!"

"Yeah!" Yang cheered. "Team ABRN's got nothing on us! They're in for surprise if they think they can win!"

' _They're not the only ones,_ ' Weiss thought with a smile, looking over at Blake. ' _If everything goes to plan, my surprise should be ready today. Hopefully._ '

Their match went incredibly well, and their victory over team ABRN lifted not only their spirits, but their friends' as well. Team JNPR had just been called up, so that meant there was still a little time to hang out in the fairgrounds before the girls needed to get back to their seats. Ruby and Yang decided to check out one of the weapon shops, which left Weiss and Blake sitting on a bench just to relax. While Blake was doing some light reading, Weiss was practically shaking with anticipation, knowing that the verdict on her surprise should be arriving soon. She looked down after feeling a buzz from her scroll, and saw she had an email from the person she'd been waiting to hear from. Frantically, she opened it to see what they'd said.

' _Miss Schnee, I'm happy to inform you that everything has gone through,_ ' the heiress read in her head with a growing smile. ' _The announcement should be on the news any minute now. Congratulations, and thank you. You've been instrumental in what may end up being one of the biggest movements in recent years. Warmest regards._ '

She locked her scroll and did her best to hide how wide her grin was. ' _I did it! I can't believe I did it! This is amazing! Beyond amazing! Now I just have to wait for Blake to find out. She's going to absolutely flip! Everyone is!_ '

Weiss spent the next few minutes looking back and forth between the televisions in the different stands, and constantly refreshing the news feed on her phone. Sure enough, after only five minutes or so, the story was on the front page of every news site. She felt butterflies welling up in her stomach from what she'd done, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the story broke to everyone. That didn't take long either.

"Blake! BLAKE! BLAAAAKE!" a voice screamed out, growing quickly closer. Weiss and Blake turned to see Velvet sprinting toward them with a look of shock and awe. "Blake! You have to see this! I can't even- You don't- AHHHH!" She handed Blake her scroll, already loaded to a news article, and Blake began to read aloud.

"Historic Faunus equality bill under consideration," the raven-haired girl read out with wide eyes. "All four kingdom councils have taken a bill under consideration that will... th-that will e-end segregation between humans and Faunus... This bill, if it becomes law, means that a-any business, employer, or otherwise that discriminate against Faunus will face heavy fines and penalties. Furthermore, it goes on to ensure all Faunus are g-guaranteed equal rights in all aspects of government and daily life. The bill was first proposed over a year ago, but largely went unnoticed and didn't gain the support or attention necessary to see a vote until recently. It's unclear exactly what brought on such a monumental decision like this all of sudden, but one council member was quoted saying: 'This would not have been possible without a tremendous amount of support from one individual in particular. She did an incredible amount of work to ensure this could become a reality and, although she wants to remain anonymous for now, all of us here, as well as all Faunus throughout the kingdoms, are in her debt.' Voting will take place Thursday to which, if any, of the kingdoms are going to end segregation."

Velvet was smiling from ear to ear, and even her ears themselves were twitching from excitement, "UH HUH! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!"

"I-I don't know w-what say," Blake stammered, completely at a loss for words. "Weiss, do you realise what this means?"

"I do," the heiress replied with a wide smile. She was blushing and intentionally not making eye contact while she spoke. She was trying to hide it, but she was a terrible liar.

Blake suddenly gasped, remembering what she'd heard the other night, "WAIT A MINUTE! W-Weiss... D-Did you...? Were you...? W-What...?"

Weiss giggled and took both of Blake's hands in hers, "Happy one month anniversary."

"WAIT, YOU DID THIS?" Velvety exclaimed, her jaw practically hitting the ground. "H-HOW?"

"I have more influence than you may realise. I've spent the last month making at least a hundred calls to get everything through. That's why I've been on the phone so much lately, and acting so weird whenever Faunus rights came up. I-"

Before she could finish, Blake suddenly wrapped her in a bear hug and lifted her off her feet. Blake held her close and spun in a circle, still trying to find the words to express how she felt. Finally, she set Weiss down and pulled her into a long, deep kiss, trying to convey her outpouring of emotions through it. She smiled as they finally parted, "I-I... I really don't know what to say... Weiss... this is just... I-I mean... I don't think you understand how big this is. This is life altering, world changing..."

Weiss nodded, "I know. I want you to happy, truly happy. I've seen the way Faunus are treated, and I know that you, or Velvet, or Sun, or any other Faunus for that matter, will never be happy until you're treated the same as everyone else."

"W-Weiss..." Velvet half whispered, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. "You're amazing." She leapt forward and hugged Weiss tightly, giving her a kiss on the cheek as she pulled away from just how elated she was.

"GUYS!" Sun suddenly yelled from a few yards away, making his way over. "Did you hear? They-"

Blake nodded, her eyes starting to water too, "Yeah, we did. Weiss... Weiss is the girl that made it happen."

"It hasn't happened yet though," Weiss pointed out, although she wasn't happy to do it. "I can get it to their attention, but there's nothing I can do to influencing the voting. That's entirely on the councils, and not all of them have to pass it."

"I'll take it," Sun exclaimed. He ran over and pulled Weiss into yet another tight embrace, starting another group hug.

They likely would've stayed there for a while longer, but they were soon reminded that they needed to return to their seats. Blake was practically glowing as they made their way back, and Weiss couldn't stop smiling. Naturally their teammates asked why, and they were elated once they heard. Granted, Ruby already knew, but hearing that more progress had been made was great. Yang had no idea though, and was absolutely astounded that Weiss not only had tried to do it, but actually pulled it off. Blake was still in a bit of shock from it all, and Weiss just smiled at sat back, knowing that she'd done something truly amazing.

' _I really hope this goes through,_ ' the heiress thought with a feeling of relief and anticipation. ' _I can't wait for us to go out without having to hide anything. The best part then is that there's nothing my father could say about us. Well, I guess that's not true, but it'll help to break the news to him. Hopefully._ '

 **So yeah, they're in for an interesting ride. ;) Hi guys! Hope you liked the chapter, and I've got some big news for you! Ready for this? The next chapter I put out won't be for this story, it will be for A Neo Outlook on Life II! That's right, the wait is (almost) over! :D I'll be alternating chapter released between it and this story. I'm really happy to start writing in that world again, and hopefully I can make the sequel just as good as the original. :)**

 **If you'd like to help support me, there's a donation link and a link to my page on my profile. $5/month gets you a lot of cool stuff. :) Thank you to my amazing Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **Francis Lafontaine**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	14. Family Game Night

Chapter 14: Family Game Night

After Qrow and Winter's fight in the courtyard, team RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN got back together for a big dinner to celebrate all of them advancing to the doubles round. They were all excited, and rightfully so, but one of them was elated far more than the others. Blake was practically walking on air, and it brought a smile to Weiss' face every time she saw just how happy she'd made her. Blake's smile was infectious after everyone had sat down, and it wasn't long before she told everyone what Weiss had done.

"THAT'S SO EXCITING!" Nora exclaimed. "Does that mean you'll stop wearing the bow and-"

Ren jumped and quickly covered Nora's mouth with his hand. "Inside voice, please," he said calmly, getting his point across to her without saying it.

Blake smiled, "She's fine. I actually haven't decided what I'd do about my bow. I'd probably still wear it for a while, but I think I'd take it off eventually. Once people are ready to see me for me and not for just what I am, I'll stop wearing it."

"So what if people know what you are?" Sun asked. He lifted his tail up to show what he meant and used it to grab his fork and take the next bite of his dinner. "People see me and Velvet as Faunus, but so what? The only opinions I care about are my friend's."

Weiss shrugged, "Yes, but I think Velvet would be hiding her ears if she could. It's obvious how much it bothers her when people pick on her."

"They won't for much longer though," Yang said, smiling at her partner.

Blake started to blush, "Hopefully. The kingdoms still need to approve it, and anything could happen then. It could pass everywhere, nowhere, everywhere but here, we don't know."

"Then we should stay optimistic," Pyrrha replied. "I'm sure our leaders will do the right thing. Only time will tell. So on another note, how's everybody feeling after their matches?"

"Sore," Scarlett sighed, shaking his head and putting his hands over his crotch.

Sun grinned, "Could be worse, you could've had to go near the water. Oh, wait-"

"Shut up!" Neptune cut in, not amused with his leader's sarcasm. "There could've been sharks in there! YOU DON'T KNOW!"

Yang rolled her eyes, "Oh knock it off. I'm feeling pretty good. I think we've got a really good chance tomorrow."

"That's the spirit," Ruby smiled. "So what do you guys wanna do tonight? I think my uncle Qrow wants to hang out with me and Yang. You guys are welcome to join!"

Sun shrugged, "Nah, thanks though. We've got rest up and talk strategy and stuff."

"We really should too," Jaune added, looking over at his teammates.

Ruby pouted, "Aww, you guys are no fun. Weiss, Blake, what about you?"

"Actually, Winter wanted to meet us for the evening," the heiress replied with a big smile. "She sounded really excited to meet Blake, and it's not that often I get to see her anyway."

Her leader smiled back, enjoying the sight of Weiss being genuinely happy. It had become a much more common sight recently, but it was still nice to see. "Sounds good," Ruby nodded. "I guess I'll see you guys tonight.

"Weiss, do you mind if I meet you guys outside?" Blake asked. "I need to drop my books back at the room."

The heiress nodded, "No problem."

They all finished eating they all split up, with Weiss going to meet her sister and Blake walking back to the dorms with Ruby and Yang. "So are you nervous about meeting Weiss' big sister?" The blonde asked, noticing that Blake was being a little extra quiet.

Blake smiled and shook her head, "No, not really. We've talked on the phone and she seems really nice. I could ask you the same question though."

"What? Why would I be nervous about meeting Winter?"

"Not that," Blake chuckled. "I meant introducing your boyfriend to your uncle like Weiss is doing with me to Winter."

Ruby made a hesitant face, "Yeahhh that won't be fun. Remember how Yang got when Sun asked me out? Uncle Qrow is even worse when it comes to being protective. I'm still gonna tell him though. We tell each other everything. He's like a cool older brother."

"Emphasis on older," Yang laughed. "She's right though. We have a promise that he won't tell our dad anything we tell him unless it's like, really illegal or something."

"Really? Everything?" Blake asked, and Yang didn't seem to understand what she meant. "Even the incident with Shadow?"

Yang's eyes got very wide, "I uh... Well... No, probably not that. Nobody needs to know about that."

"Sis? You okay?" Ruby asked when she saw how far Yang's face had fallen.

"Um... Not really, no. Can we stop talking about this? Please? I really wanna forget that it ever happened."

Blake gave her a sympathetic look, "If it bothers you so much then maybe you should talk about it."

"I said to drop it," Yang said with a bit of a bite to her tone, and Blake immediately backed off. They arrived at the room and Ruby dashed inside. Blake went to through the door, but Yang caught her shoulder and held her in the hallway. "Hey, sorry I snapped at you. It's just... Well... Qrow and Ruby always had a sort of extra connection with the scythes and weapons and stuff, and it always feels like she's the clear favourite in his eyes. It's hard to compete with someone who's that damn cute all the time. That and I've never told him I'm not a virgin. I don't want him to think less of me... I know it sounds dumb, but that's why I don't want him to know."

Blake smiled and gave her partner and hug, "You're right, that does sound dumb. If he's as cool as you say he is then you know he won't care, and he certainly wouldn't play favourites. Promise you'll tell him?"

"Yeah, I guess," Yang sighed.

They went inside and Blake set her books down, then headed straight back out to meet to meet Weiss. Sure enough, she and Winter were there waiting for her, and Winter looked much cheerier than she had earlier in the afternoon.

"Hello, Blake," Winter greeted her with a warm smile. "It's nice to finally meet you in person. Weiss has been telling be quite a lot about you while we've been waiting."

Blake blushed, "Nice to meet you too. Out of curiosity, what has she been telling you?"

"Oh, nothing really I suppose. Mostly things like how much you mean to her and things of that nature. I can't think of a single thing she's told me that wasn't a compliment to you."

"Winter!" Weiss whined, not liking how this conversation was going. "Please stop. I'm never going to hear the end of it if you don't."

"Too late," Blake grinned. "But we can worry about that later. So Winter, what did you have planned for us?"

Winter shrugged, "I thought I'd leave that up to you two. I don't have anyone with me that I need to act professional around though, so feel free to choose whatever you like."

"I was wondering about that. Was the military style personality just because you were with soldiers and Ironwood?"

"Pretty much," Weiss answered for her sister. "The smack on the head was taking it a little far though."

Winter chuckled, "Yes, I suppose it was. That reminds me, you never got to show me your dorm room. Perhaps we could start there?"

"That sounds great! Follow me, the dorms are this way."

They started walking back to the room, and Blake couldn't stop smiling along the way. The Winter she'd seen earlier was a much different person, and glad to see how nice and caring the real Winter was. What's more was that she could see how much Weiss liked her sister, and vice versa. It was nice to know that if something happened or if Weiss needed help, she'd be about to go to Winter . There was, however, one question Blake had on her mind that needed an answer.

"Winter, I have to ask," Blake began. "Are you really okay with me being a Faunus?"

Winter gave her a confused look, "Of course. Didn't Weiss tell you I dated a Faunus myself?"

"I know, I know, but I'm guessing he wasn't a member of the White Fang." Blake wasn't thrilled to be talking about it, but she knew that if there was any resentment here then it needed to be out in the open.

"True, he wasn't," Winter replied. "In fact, he vehemently opposed the group after it turned violent. And yes, Weiss has told me about some of the things you did while you were with them. Do I care though? Not at all. People do many things they're not proud of in desperate times. I know that nothing you did was out of hate, only out of necessity. In my eyes you've done nothing wrong."

Weiss smiled, "See? I told you she didn't care. Your past isn't what's important, it's who you are now that matters. Now come on, we're almost there." They entered the dorm building and walked through the halls until they came to their room. Weiss went ahead and opened the door and led them inside. "So this is our room. You can see-"

"YOU!" Winter interrupted, her eyes going past Weiss and locking onto the man sitting on the floor between Ruby and Yang.

Qrow grinned when he saw who it was, "Oh hey. What brings you here? We were just about to play a game of Remnant if you'd like to join. I take it you'd prefer to be Atlas?"

"Don't you have a bar to drink dry? Weiss, maybe the tour should wait until later."

"Yeah, she'd much rather go kick a box of puppies around," Qrow shot back.

"Can we not?" Blake asked calmly, looking between the two feuding adults. "Please? I'd rather not have our room torn apart by another fight between you two."

"But she-"

"But he-"

"Hey!" Yang yelled, standing up and walking between them along with Blake. "Not fighting the room! Unless it's in the game."

Ruby clapped excitedly, "This is gonna be so much fun! How do we wanna split the six of us up?"

"We could do teams of two," Weiss suggested. "You can play Remnant with three kingdoms. Teams could be siblings then."

"Does that make me a Faunus?" Qrow joked, looking at Blake since she would be his teammate.

Blake gasped, "How did you-?"

"Relax, do you think I care? And when you've been doing this as long as long as I have, it's not hard to tell. That and Yang already told me."

Yang rolled her eyes, "Way to throw me under the bus for no reason. Anyway, back to teams. How about Weiss and Blake, me and Rubes, you and Winter? I can't think of a single thing wrong with that."

Winter shook her head, "Wouldn't it be easier to have the two of use play on our own? That way there would be four kingdoms and we'd all leave this room alive."

"Teammates it is," Qrow replied with a mischievous smile. "Wanna call ourselves team nemesis? Dibs on Vale, by the way."

Ruby pouted, "No fair! Then team sisters gets Mistral."

"We can be Atlas," Weiss smiled, looking at Blake. "Team girlfriends."

They pulled chairs up to the main table in the room and started setting up the game board. All of the girls were snickering at Winter's aversion to sitting next to Qrow, and he seemed even more amused by it than they did. He and Winter got into a fight right from the start about starting unit placement, and the feuding carried over through the entire first game. Yang and Ruby dominated, with Weiss and Blake holding out relatively well and Qrow and Winter failing miserably to do anything. The win went to team sisters, and they decided to make it a best two or of three.

The next game was a lot like the first, but Yang and Ruby got a little too cocky toward the middle of play. Weiss made a few deceptive and preemptive plays, and was able to completely turn things around and take out most of team sisters' units with Blake in charge of placement. Meanwhile, Winter and Qrow were still arguing over every decision. Team girlfriends took the win, and they set up for what seemed like the final match. After all, none of them expected team nemesis to be able to get a win in.

The third game began, and nobody paid much attention to Winter and Qrow at the start. They were awfully quiet, and it seemed like they had just decided to stop arguing and almost throw in the towel. That all changed when they made a sudden burst for control of the board, and annihilated both of the other team's forces. As it turned out, both Winter and Qrow wanted to win more than they hated each other, and they'd finally gotten to a point where they could play the game without getting into a shouting match. Game three went to them, and that meant the winner of the next game won it all. There wasn't a prize or anything, but now it was all about bragging rights.

Ruby dealt the cards out so the game could begin, and gazed around the table at her opponents. "You guys ready to lose?" she asked with a smug grin.

"Not a chance," her uncle replied with an equally amused look. "Winter and I finally hit our stride."

Weiss smiled, "That's the first time you've used her real name all night. Does that mean you're finally getting along?"

"For now, sure. We'll be back at each other's throats by morning though. Ain't that right?"

Winter shrugged, "I'd like to point out that you're always the antagonist when we get into a fight. Perhaps if you didn't try to provoke me, we might actually behave like decent human beings."

"What, Faunus can't be decent people?" Blake asked with a joking smile, giving her bow a quick twitch. "I'm just kidding. Here, Weiss and I will go first since we were the first ones out last game."

This round was quite different from the three before it. There was no friendly banter between the teams, no moves made just for the fun of it. Everyone was focused on winning, and here was a tension growing in the air as the game went on and huge swings came as the result of simple mistakes. There was a lot of yelling at dice rolls, frustration at trap cards, celebrating good draws, and by the end of the game the players felt physically exhausted. Team sisters got knocked out after a series of lucky rolls from team girlfriends, but that ended up making them in a bad shot against team nemesis. In the end it was very close, but Qrow and Winter managed to pull out the victory.

"How do you win at everything?" Yang pouted, directing the question at her uncle.

He smirked, "I'm just that good. Oh, and I guess Winter helped a little."

"See? Right there!" Winter exclaimed, then quickly regained composure. "I mean... Oh nevermind, I-"

"Relax, sweetheart, I'm just messin' around. You played well."

"Thank you, but don't call me sweetheart."

"So what do you guys wanna do now?" Yang asked, checking the time on the clock. "It's still kinda early. Wanna go out somewhere?"

Ruby shook her head, "Nah, I'm happy staying here for a while. Anyone else?"

"I actually need to talk to Weiss about something," Winter said, looking at her sister. "I was reminded of it between the last game. We should probably step out into the hall." Weiss looked a bit worried, but nodded and followed her older sister out the door.

"I wonder what that's about," Yang said quietly, looking to Blake to see if she had any idea.

Blake only shrugged and looked at the door with a worried expression, "I don't know... I hope it's nothing bad..."

"Just have to wait and see," Qrow added, then took a quick drink from his flask. "On that note though, got any good stories of bad stuff this semester? Same promise as always not to tell your dad."

Ruby smiled, "Well, we had a huge food fight with team JNPR before classes started. Professor Goodwitch was furious the we destroyed the cafeteria, but we didn't get in trouble. Umm... What else... OH! There was the night where we thought that Yang was-"

"Don't," Yang interrupted, looking very uneasy. "I don't know if I wanna talk about that..."

Their uncle raised an eyebrow, "You thought Yang was what? C'mon, don't keep secrets from me. What could've happened that you of all people wouldn't wanna talk about it?"

"Look, uncle Qrow... I know we tell each other everything, but... this is something I don't think you need to know. I really wanna forget that it happened at all. I've never been that scared... It's just not something I want you to hear."

His face when from a bit concerned to almost frightened by her response. That look look then faded to one more caring and understanding. He walked over and put a hand on Yang's shoulder, "Hey, we've all done stuff we wanna forget. If you don't wanna talk about it then-"

"She had a pregnancy scare," Blake interjected, getting a shocked look from Qrow and Ruby, and a death stare from Yang. "I'm sorry, but you said you'd tell him. You need to talk about this."

The blonde sighed and put her head in her hands, "Alright, fine... Yes, I was a week late for my period after not using protection, and I thought I was pregnant. I didn't want you to know because... I don't want you to think of me any differently... I'm sorry..."

Yang started to cry, and her uncle wasn't going to allow that. He lifted her to her feet and pulled her into a tight hug, letting her get all of her tears out into his shoulder. "You'll always be an angel to me," he said softly, patting her on the back. "Nothing you do will ever change that."

Yang sniffled as they came apart and gave a shy smile, "Thanks... That doesn't count as something you'd have to relay to dad, does it?"

"Not at all. Now, that does remind me of something I wanted to ask about. I heard you've both got a boyfriend now. When do I get to meet 'em? And apparently give one of them a stern talk about protection."

Ruby giggled, "It wasn't her boyfriend that that happened with. But yeah, my boyfriend's name is Sun. He's the monkey Faunus you saw on team SSSN. He's the leader, actually. He's the sweetest thing you'll ever meet."

"And he's already passed the Yang test," Blake added, getting a laugh from everything. "If there's anyone around here that could rival Ruby's energy and high spirits, it's him."

"If she's with him then I can't imagine he'd be anything else," Qrow smiled. "How about you, Yang?"

The blonde blushed just from the thought of her boyfriend. "His name is Mercury," she replied in a shy voice. "I haven't felt like this in a long time. He's absolutely amazing."

Her uncle continued to grin, "Just like you. I expect to meet these boys while I'm here. They haven't gotten the 'Qrow Stamp of Approval' yet."

Meanwhile, the conversation out in the hallway wasn't quite as light and cheery. "What's this about?" Weiss asked after Winter closed the door behind them.

"Relax, it's not necessarily anything bad. I wanted to talk to you about a bill that I saw recently come up in the news. It made me stop and wonder who that someone who's so influential is who would care so much about Faunus rights. Naturally I only came to one conclusion."

Weiss sighed, "Well, you're correct. Do you think it could get traced back to me? Like, could dad or someone find out?"

"That's hard to say," Winter shrugged. "Nothing in the news points to you, or even a Schnee at all, so that was well done. As far as dad finding out, I'd say he wouldn't be suspicious as long as he doesn't know about Blake. Even then I doubt he'd suspect it."

"Alright... So if that's not it, then why did you want to talk to me in private?" Weiss asked.

Her sister smiled, "I wanted to say that I'm proud of you. I know you hate affection in view of anyone, so I thought we could talk out here. You did an amazing thing, and you should be very proud of yourself. Don't let it go to your head though. Using your influence like that doesn't always work out so smoothly. You were extremely lucky, and that's not likely to happen again."

"I understand. I don't have any plans of doing something like this again, but I knew that this had to be done."

"And I agree with you. I-" Winter was cut off my a sudden ringing I her scroll. She sighed when she saw the name, and glared when she read the message. "It seems that General Ironwood needs me. Knowing him I'll be a while, so I guess I'll say goodnight to you now. I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

Weiss nodded, "Absolutely. Oh, and by the way, I'm really proud of you too. I know how much self control it took to put up with Qrow so we could all have a nice evening." They hugged and said goodnight, and Weiss went back inside.

"Yay, you're back!" Ruby cheered. "Where's Winter?" Are you in trouble?"

"Ironwood called her, and no, I'm not in trouble. She wanted to talk about what I did for Blake."

Qrow grinned, "Oh yeah, you got that bill pushed up, didn't you? Not a lot of people have that kind of power, and even fewer care about equal rights. It's nice to see someone use their powers for good."

"You're just in time to talk about boyfriends," Blake said, returning to their previous topic. "Care to weigh in on either of theirs?"

"Where do I begin," Weiss laughed before sitting back down next to Blake. That sparked a number of conversations about both of the boys in question. There were a few things they held back in since they were trying to give a good impression, and it seemed to be working. Qrow hadn't seemed upset or cautious about or beforehand, but after a half hour or so of talking they had almost gotten his mythical "Seal of Approval" without meeting the boys at all.

There was a knock at the door then, and Weiss sprang up to answer it, thinking it was Winter. She opened the door and was surprised at ego she saw. "Hey, Mercury. What brings you by?" she asked, then donned a smile. "Actually, nevermind. Come on in, there's someone who wants to meet you."

"Uh... Okay?" he said as he walked inside. Yang leapt up and latched onto him in an instant, and he gave her a quick kiss.

Qrow raised his eyebrows and stood up, "Hold up, buddy. You've gotta get the okay from me before you kiss my niece in front of me."

Mercury's eyes shot open wide. The room got awkwardly quiet, which Qrow clearly enjoyed. Mercury cleared his throat, "R-Right. Well, I'm guessing you know my name already. Nice to meet too, mister...?"

"Qrow," he finished, shaking Mercury's outstretched hand. "No mister though. Now, I've heard a lot about you already. What makes you think you're good enough for my little angel?"

Yang groaned, "Uncle Qrow... Please don't..."

"Relax, sweetie," Mercury smiled. "I dunno. She's funny, cute, smart, one of the few that can rival me in a fight. She's a pretty cool girl."

Qrow smiled back, "Right answer. So what brought you by?"

"I was gonna take her out for ice cream or something. Just an excuse to walk around the fairgrounds and hang out."

"Do you care if I go?" Yang asked, putting on her best puppy eyes.

Her uncle laughed, "Who am I, your dad? Of course you can go. Mercury, take good care of her, you hear me? If something happens you'll be answering to me."

Blake was surprised to see how Mercury didn't even flinch at the statement. Everyone in the room knew that Qrow wasn't just talking about tonight. And, after seeing what he was capable of after brawling with Winter, invoking his wrath was not a good idea. Even with that, Mercury didn't seem phased. Blake smiled, knowing the only reason he wouldn't be is that he really cared about Yang. Weiss and Ruby had picked up on this as well, and they all collectively dropped the last of their suspicions about him.

Mercury nodded, "Yes, sir." Yang got her purse and coat, and the two headed out for the night.

"Well, that's one down," Qrow grinned once the couple had shut the door. "What do you say, Ruby? Wanna go pay Sun a visit?"

The leader's eyes lit up, "Sure! Let's go! Weiss, Blake, wanna come too?"

"I'll pass," the heiress replied. "I could really use some sleep before the doubles match tomorrow."

"Suit yourself," Ruby shrugged, and swiftly departed with her uncle.

"Well that was an interesting night," Blake laughed, getting up and getting her pajamas out of her dresser. "Were you as surprised as I was about how Mercury handled that?"

Weiss nodded, "Yeah... I don't know why I distrusted him, but he really does seem like a nice guy. And clearly he makes Yang happy. I guess I was just afraid to see her get hurt."

"Me too, but I don't think that'll happen." The two girls changed into their nightwear and snuggled up together in Blake's bed. They had another big day tomorrow, and Weiss definitely needed some sleep. Everything seemed to be looking up for them, and they smiled as they drifted off to sleep, eager to see how the next few weeks were going to pan out.

 **I dunno about you guys, but I'd say we're getting close to a lot of stuff going down. But hey, that's just me. ;)**

 **Be sure to follow, favourite, and review! If you'd like to help support me, there's a donation link and a link to my page on my profile. $5 a month gets you a lot of cool stuff, and it really goes a long way. :)**

 **Thank you to my amazing Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **Francis Lafontaine**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	15. Hope and Heartbreak

Chapter 15: Hope and Heartbreak

The doubles round was a little more challenging than team RWBY expected, but thanks to Weiss having a clear head she was able to give Yang the edge needed to take the win after being eliminated. Weiss took the time after the match to reiterate how important a good night's sleep had been to their victory, while Blake was a little less than happy about Weiss' methods.

"All I'm saying is you could've gotten really hurt," Blake said as the four girls got back to their seats. "That was a really risky move."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "But we won, didn't we?"  
"If a win puts you in the hospital, I'd rather we lose," Yang replied.

"Oh stop being so overdramatic! Look, I'm fine! My clothes are a little charred, but I'm alright. I knew what I was doing, and I got us through. I say this is cause for celebration!"

"Ditto!" Ruby cheered. "I say we get everyone together for a nice dinner tonight before the singles round starts. It could be a big date night! Me and Sun, you two, Yang and Mercury, Jaune and Pyrrha, and... Are Ren and Nora together yet?"

Blake shrugged, "I don't think so, but I can't imagine it'll be long now. You should absolutely invite them though. Maybe this will be the thing that finally gets them to kiss."

Ruby sent a text out to everyone asking if they would be up for dinner, and everyone but Ren and Nora agreed. The girls were all a little disappointed at first, but the next text from Ren nearly made Ruby jump out of her seat. "Oh my God!" the redhead exclaimed, staring intently at her scroll. "Ren just texted me! 'I've got my own date night planned for Nora tonight. She just doesn't know it yet.' YEEESS!"

Yang smiled, "Well then I guess it's a good thing we're getting Jaune and Pyrrha out of the room for them. Mercury said yes by the way. Is that everyone?"

"Yup, Sun said yes too," her sister replied.

"So where am I taking you?" Weiss asked, trying to sound sarcastically annoyed. "I'm guessing it'll be somewhere fancy and expensive, right?"

Ruby looked a little guilty, "Oh, uh... We don't have to, I-"

"Calm down, I'm just messing with you. I think we all deserve a nice night out."

"As long as we don't go to the same place as before," Blake added, remembering the incident that had happened. She wasn't worried that it was going to happen again, but she felt better about going somewhere that hadn't pissed her off yet.

"Noted. I think I have somewhere in mind that'll work for everyone. Upscale enough for great food, but not so fancy that we'd need to dress up."

The round wrapped up later in the afternoon, and everyone went back to the dorms to get ready to leave. Even though Weiss said they didn't really need to change, most of them elected to at least do their makeup. Weiss went across the hall to let Jaune and Pyrrha know it was time to go, and noticed Ren looking more than a little nervous in the background. She gave him a knowing wink as a way of saying good luck, which made him smile. The four couples did one last check in the hallway that they had everything they needed, and headed out.

"Thank you for setting this up," Pyrrha said as they boarded the airship into the city. "Did Ren and Nora not want to come?"

Ruby's face lit up, "Ren said he's got a date night planned already. I think he's gonna ask Nora out!"  
"Wait, are you being serious?" Jaune asked with an amused smile. "Nora told me this morning that she was gonna ask him out tonight too!"

Yang gasped in delight, "YES YES YES! THE S.S. RENORA IS SET TO SAIL! This is so perfect!"

"They can still come with us if one of them hurries," Blake chuckled.

Sun grinned, "Nah, let 'em have fun on their own. Sounds to me like us being out is gonna work in their favour if you know what I mean."

"Bad!" Ruby scolded her boyfriend, giving him a light slap on the shoulder.

"Ow! Hey, you know it's true! They're gonna-"

"Watch a movie," Pyrrha injected, narrowing her eyes at the monkey Faunus. "Watch a movie and eat popcorn and maybe cuddle. Isn't that right?"

Sun rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure. The same way you and Jaune were just watching a movie last night?"

Jaune and Pyrrha both turned bright red as all eyes turned to them. "H-How'd you know that?" Jaune asked, looking only half as mortified as Pyrrha.

Yang snickered, "Sorry, but we could hear you. Well, not all of us. Weiss and Blake were asleep, but Ruby, Merc, Sun, and I got back at the same time and could hear you. You weren't very quiet. Remember how we said we weren't gonna bring it up though, Sun?"

"Nope, don't remember that at all," Sun replied as innocently as possible. "I was too busy ki- Um..."

"No, please, finish your sentence," Yang smirked. "You were too busy doing what? Kissing Ruby?"

"Uhh... Maybe? Depends, does trying to lie my way out of it get me more or less beaten up than telling the truth?"

Ruby groaned, "Oh knock it off you two. Don't ruin date night before it starts."

"We're just kidding around, Rubes," Sun laughed, nervously looking to see if Yang would agree.

The brawler nodded, "As long as it stops at kissing, then yes, it's all in fun."

"Moving on," Weiss interjected before either one of them could say anything more. "I think you'll like this place. It's an upscale buffet, so all you can eat. I think they have something like a hundred different foods and desserts out at a time, so everyone should be able to find something they like. Let's just make sure we don't stay too long and miss the start of the next round."

Sun nodded, "And on that note, who's idea was it to structure the tournament like this anyway? The doubles round ends at five in the afternoon, and then they decide to have the round of eight at nine at night? Why not just have it before the quarter finals tomorrow?"

"Beats me," Ruby shrugged. "Probably to let everyone rest. Four fights that close would be pretty tough to do. Three won't be easy as it is."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair. I still think it's dumb, but oh well."

It wasn't a long walk once the ship docked, and they got to the restaurant at about six o'clock. That left plenty of time to chat, relax, and most important, eat. Weiss hadn't lied about the buffet, and the eight of them attacked it like they hadn't eaten in days. They weren't obnoxious though, remembering that this was still a slightly higher-class establishment than the usual. That didn't stop them from seeing how much they could stuff on one plate though.

"This is really nice," Ruby commented once it seemed like they'd all brought back enough to eat. "I'm glad we can finally have a big date night and not need to worry about being too coupley."

Yang grinned, "Does that mean we're free to ask about what happened last night?"

"Oh no..." Pyrrha groaned, burying her head in her hands. Jaune blushed as well, sinking a little lower into his chair.

"Relax, I'm not after details. I just wanna know how it happened! Was that the first time you guys got together?"

Jaune shook his head, "No, we just thought that we had some free time. Maybe we should talk about you though, Yang. I remember hearing some bed springs creaking when you had the room to yourself last weekend."

"Think about it, Jaune," Yang chuckled. "I'm on the top bunk. If the bed was rocking, it would've fallen over. I don't know what you heard, but it wasn't me."

"A likely story," Weiss grinned. Blake had shot her a look that said not to say it, but she didn't listen.

"More likely than you and Blake 'accidentally' falling asleep naked in the same bed the night of the dare contest."

Blake huffed, "I was fully dressed! Weiss was naked because of Nora's bet!"

"Can we move off the topic of our sex lives?" Sun asked. Not that it wasn't entertaining for him, but he knew that it wouldn't end well when it got around to him and Ruby.

"Gladly," Weiss smiled. "How about we talk about what we've all been up to? Maybe toss around some date ideas?"

Pyrrha happily agreed, always eager for new things to do with Jaune, "That sounds like fun. Let's see... Jaune and I have mostly been hanging around the fairgrounds lately. The stands and carnival games are enough for a different date every time we go."

"Sun took me to a go-kart track the other night," Ruby smiled, taking her turn to share. "It was a lot of fun! I beat him every time, but he was a good sport about it."

"Yeah, I let you win," he very sarcastically replied, earning some laughs and eye rolls from around the table.

Blake thought for a moment, "Hmm... I guess Weiss and I haven't done a whole lot lately, but I'm happier with having quiet nights in."

"You and I both," the heiress chucked.

"What about you and Yang?" Ruby asked, looking to her sister and Mercury.

"Not much," the silver-haired boy shrugged. "Just hanging out around campus, doing little things here and there. I wouldn't say we do big dates as much as wet just sorta chill together."

Yang giggled, "I think we've spent every day together since you asked me out." She turned away with a bashful smile, her cheeks already a deep red. "I love you, Mercury."

All eyes turned to them, but especially Mercury. This was a pretty big deal, both for him and Yang. Blake knew how much courage it must've taken for Yang to say that again.

"I love you too, Yang," Mercury replied without a moment of hesitation. Yang's eyes almost seemed to sparkle from her joy, and an audible "Aww!" came from everyone at the table as the two shared a kiss.

' _Looks like my gut was wrong about him,_ ' Blake thought, glad to see her partner this happy.

Even though they were having a great time, Weiss had to be the one to eventually put an end to it. They had agreed to leave by seven-thirty to give themselves enough time to get back to Amity. Once the check was paid, they left feeling full and ready for the next round. The walk back wasn't long, but the way they were going took them through one of the slightly sketchier areas between districts of the city. It wasn't a dangerous area per se, but it wasn't the kind of place you wanted to spend a lot of time in.

"Hey, wait," Blake whispered to Weiss as they walked, pointing down the street at a man looking around before ducking into an abandoned warehouse. "That's Francis. I wonder what he's doing here."

Weiss shrugged, "Let's go find out. Hey, Ruby, we'll meet up with you guys later. Blake and I are going for a quick walk."

"Have fun!" her leader replied, and continued walking with everyone else.

The two girls walked over to the door and peered in the high window. The hall ended at another door, and neither of them wanted to just go inside. The building looked very sketchy, and since neither one of them had their weapons, it didn't seem like a good idea. They could hear what sounded like a lot of people talking from somewhere inside as well.

They crept around back and through an open exit door, finding themselves in a sort of backstage area. There were old and broken lights, dusty curtains, shattered glass, and Blake was beginning to worry about what had brought Francis here. The faint talking grew as they moved further in, then completely stopped. Another, single voice rose then, and it sent a shiver down Blake's spine.  
"No..." she whispered as the main stage came in view. There was a man standing in the centre, addressing a body of at least five hundred Faunus in White Fang masks. "Adam..."

Weiss gasped, "Oh no... Blake, we need to leave. Now." She tugged at Blake's arm, but the girl was rooted in place.

"Today is the day that we-" Adam shouted, continuing his speech, but then his eyes fell across the two girls hiding behind the curtains. He stared for a moment in disbelief, then started to grin. "Well well... Hello, darling. Have you finally come back to me? Don't be shy, my love. Please, come out here."

Weiss and Blake shared a nervous glance, but it was too late now. They wouldn't make it anywhere if they tried to run. They very slowly and hesitantly walked out onto the stage, and a murmur spread through the crowd as Weiss stepped into view. Blake kept her eyes fixed on Adam, "What's going on?"

"The revolution!" he shouted, earning a roaring cheer from the gathered crowd. "In two days, we take the fight to Vale, to Beacon! It's time we made them pay for- Hold on... Why have you brought a human here?"

Someone from the crowd gasped, "That's a Schnee! Kill her!" The whispering turned yelling, and soon the audience was in a near frenzy.

"SILENCE!" Adam commanded, holding up his hand and instantly bringing the room to near quiet. "Is this what you've become, my love? Living with the same humans that force us to live like this? I knew you weak, but I never expected that you were this weak."

The crowd had her somewhat afraid, but Weiss wasn't about to take any of this. She stood up straight, and looked Adam in the face as she answered, "Yes, I am Weiss Schnee. I may bear the Schnee name, but that doesn't mean I'm like my father. I wouldn't be fighting for your rights if I were."

Adam started to laugh, "You? Fight for our rights? I'll believe it when I see it."

"You have seen it," Blake confidently replied. "I know for a fact that you've seen the new laws up for the Council's vote. I'll give you three guesses as to who brought the bills to their attention."

Adam didn't seem to understand at first, but then took a step back in shock. The crowd started whispering again, although this time it didn't sound angry. The tone was more confusion, trying to rationalise how it could be possible.

"You did that?" Adam asked Weiss. He still sounded angry to be speaking to her, but there was also a hint of curiosity.

The heiress nodded, "Yes, I did. Blake is my teammate at Beacon. In this past semester, my eyes have been opened to how the world treats you, and I think it's despicable. I refuse to let Blake, or any other Faunus I know for that matter, have to suffer through it. Tomorrow night, you'll have the rights and freedoms you should've had all along."

"There's no guarantee it'll pass, Schnee. You may think you've done something great, but the government has never taken our side before, and they won't do it now."

"And you think that launching an attack will make them listen?" Blake asked. "Adam, think about what you're saying."

"We'll take our chances," Adam flatly replied.

Weiss narrowed her eyes, "Why? Why would you do that? You have your end goal on a silver platter in front of you, and you're saying that you won't at least see if you'll have it before you do something so drastic? I've been talking to a lot of people in the last month putting this through, including some of the Council members, and I can say with ninety-nine percent certainty that Vale is going to pass this bill. Whether you trust the government or not, you can trust me in saying-"

"Oh really?" Adam interrupted, taking a few steps toward Weiss. "Can I trust you though? Why should I? Why should anyone here trust you? Do you think that knowing a Faunus is enough for us to suddenly forget who you are?"

Weiss didn't break her stare and held her ground, "You want proof? The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company is standing directly in front of you. I'm willing to bet that you, and every other Faunus here, want to kill me for what my family's done, and I don't blame you. If you don't think that I'm being honest, then go ahead. Do it. I'm not armed, and there's no way I could defend myself against all of you. I'm completely at your mercy, asking you to trust me."

The body of people didn't seem to know how to react. Blake could see a few that clearly wanted to take Weiss up on her offer, but were held back. It seemed like that were at least willing to hear her out.

Weiss continued, "I know you've had to wait, I know that you don't want to be told to wait any longer, and I know that you're willing to die for your rights, but please, you don't have to do something rash. Can you wait for just one more day? I've done everything in my power to help you, and I know it'll succeed. Do you believe me?"

The murmur of the crowd grew again, and this time it almost sounded accepting, friendly even. Looking out, Blake could see faint smiles on people's faces. Weiss' words had gotten through to the crowd at least, and soon the low rumble of voices grew. "Weiss! Weiss! Weiss!" they chanted, taking the three on stage by surprise.

"Wow," Blake smiled and turned to Adam, "They trust her. I know that you can too."

The bull Faunus sneered and held up his hand again, "ENOUGH! Something doesn't add up here... I don't buy that you'd be so sudden to go against your family to fight for us. Why do you care so much? Why was Blake able to change your mind so quickly?"

Blake froze, realising where this was about to go. She had hoped that they would avoid bringing it up, knowing that Adam wouldn't take it well, but she wasn't able to stop Weiss before she spoke.

"Because we're dating," the heiress replied, getting a death-stare from Adam and slight gasp from members of the crowd. "In case you needed any more proof that I'm not like my father. I, Weiss Schnee, am in a lesbian relationship with a Faunus." She reached over and took Blake's hand, not fazed by Adam's daunting presence.

"Kiss her," he said. "Prove that you're not-"

He wasn't able to finish before Weiss had already brought her lips to Blake's, but even a moment of hesitation. Adam stood speechless, then furiously clenched his teeth before storming of the stage. The crowd gave another cheer, and started to disperse at Blake's command. She could see hope in their faces, true hope not bred from a lust for vengeance, and she had never felt more proud of Weiss than she had in that moment.

The couple exited the building, still hand in hand, and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Weiss smiled at her girlfriend, "I was not expecting that at all. I was afraid for my life when that first person recognised me."

"I was too," Blake replied, shaking her head. "I'm sorry I made us go in. I didn't think that's what would happen..." It was obvious that something was bothering her, and Weiss knew exactly what it was.

"Are you okay?" the heiress asked. "I can tell you aren't happy about seeing him again..."

The Faunus girl nodded, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't know why, but-"

"But what?" Adam's voice suddenly called out from behind them, and they turned around to see him slip out of the shadows with his sword drawn. "I thought you had come back to help us, Blake, not to throw EVERYTHING I've spent all this time working towards INTO THE GUTTER! We had our chance at a revolution, a chance to be free of oppression, and instead you put your trust in a SCHNEE!"

Blake scowled at her former partner, "That's not what happened, and you know it. Now isn't the time for a revolution. There was a time for it, and there never will be. We almost have our freedom, Adam. Why can you accept that?"

"Because I'll never trust them. They've done too much to ever earn it. And now I have to put everything back together and start over. I'll start by killing the arrogant heiress who thought she could fool me. Then, you and I will have all night to ourselves, where you'll learn the price of betrayal."

Weiss stepped in front of Blake, "Try me." The statement was almost entirely a bluff. She wasn't skilled at hand to hand combat, and her glyphs were severely crippled without her rapier. That wasn't going to stop her from trying though.

Adam charged, and Weiss felt Blake's grip on her hand tighten. Undeterred, the heiress extended her free hand and concentrated on a spot just a few yards in front of them. She waited until Adam was just about to reach it, and made the glyph.

Her intent had been to make an ice glyph to root him in place, but that wasn't the case. Instead, a massive, armoured hand emerged from the group and latched into Adam. He yelled in surprise and tried to fight it, but it's grip was too strong. It reared back and slammed him into the ground, knocking him unconscious, then vanished. Blake looked on in horror, dozens of emotions overwhelming her, and she sank to the ground as she began to hyperventilate.

The next half hour passed by in a blur. Weiss called the police to come arrest Adam, and stayed beside Blake to keep her calm. She wasn't exactly sure which part of this had triggered this kind of reaction, but she knew better than to pry right now. The officers offered to call an ambulance for Blake if she needed medical attention, thinking that her episode was because of being attacked, but she declined.

Instead of the medical escort, Weiss called a taxi to take them to the dock. Blake hardly said a word on both the ride over or the flight and just stared out the window. When she and Weiss finally got back to campus and in their room, she immediately ran to her bed. She curled up in a ball, pulled the covers over her head, and started to cry. She snapped at anyone who tried to talk to her, and stayed like that for another fifteen minutes before Weiss finally managed to calm her down.

"Shh, shh, you're alright," the heiress whispered in her most soothing tone. She sat down on Blake's bed and put her hand on the girl's shoulder, gently trying to make her sit up. "Adam's gone for good. He'll never try to hurt you again."

Blake shook her head, still sniffing, "That's not it... He tried to kill you, Weiss... After everything I said, and everything that you said, he still tried to kill you. I had always held out hope that he could come back... that even though he'd become a monster, he could still be saved. I thought he could be the person I knew him as all those years ago again... but I was wrong. People can't change once they've gone that far."

"I changed," Weiss frowned.

Blake rolled over with sad eyes, and finally sat back up. She gave Weiss a light kiss on the lips, a smile starting to shine through her tears. "I know you did, but you were never like Adam. You had some misguided hatred, but not like him."

Yang shrugged and walked over beside the bed with Ruby following beside her. "Well I'm just glad that you're both okay," the brawler smiled. "Do you want me and Rubes to leave so you can talk in private? You sound like you might need it."

Blake shook her head again, still smiling, "No, that's alright. Thank you though. I'm sorry I broke down like that."

"No need to be," her partner merrily replied. "Alrighty then, time for me to prepare for my match! Let's see if anyone thinks they're tough enough to beat me!"

The girls jumped on the next shuttle back up to the colosseum and took their seats. Weiss always insisted on them being early, so there was a little down time before Yang was called to get ready. When she was, Weiss got up with her to use the bathroom and get a bottle of water. She wasn't paying much attention on the way back to her seat, still thinking about the encounter with Adam, and she jumped when a male voice called out to her in the corridor to the seating area.

"Weiss, wait up," Mercury called out from behind her, running to catch up.

"Oh, hey," the heiress waved as she spun around. "What's up?"

The silver-haired boy took a moment to think over what he had to say, wearing an uncharacteristically serious face, "Listen, I have some things I need to tell you. Big things. I need you to swear you'll hear me out."

"Huh?" Weiss asked, confused, but the urgency in the boy's eyes was enough to make her nod.

"Alright, so... I'm not who think I am. None of my 'teammates' are either. I work for Cinder and Roman, so do Emerald and Neo. Neo's the girl who's been protecting Roman. She's been in disguise while she's here."

Weiss stood utterly still for a few moments. Her face went back and forth through half a dozen emotions, trying to find the right way to respond. The one she settled on was an angry glare, "Why are you telling me this?"

He sighed, "Because I'm tired of her. I've always known that she'll toss us to the side once she gets what she wants, but staying along was just the better option. If you know you're fucked, may as well get what you can with what you've got left, right?"

"Okay..." Weiss said slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on Mercury's. "So what? Am I supposed to believe you've had some sort of moral epiphany? That you're a good guy now? You came to the wrong person if you think that I won't call the police right now! And on that note, why shouldn't I?"

"Because you said you'd hear me out," he answered.

Weiss' scowl intensified, "Fine. You've got two minutes to change my mind."

"Plenty of time," Mercury chuckled. "You're right, though. I won't lie and say I've had some big revelation about wanting to turn good, because I haven't. The thing is, the next step of the plan involves Yang."

"Yang?" the heiress asked, her eyes widening. "What do you mean? What plan?"

"Cinder is rigging the matches to make certain people fight certain others. The first fight in the singles round is gonna be me and Yang. After our match, Emerald is gonna use her semblance to make Yang think I'm attacking her. Em can make people hallucinate. Yang breaks my leg, people go nuts, Grimm rile up, you get the idea." Mercury lifted his pant leg to show his robotic legs, and Weiss gasped. "She wouldn't actually do any damage, but people would think she did."

"You still haven't exactly answered why you're telling me all of this," Weiss replied. Her suspicions had been growing the longer the conversation had gone on, and now she needed answers.

Mercury started to smile, "Because I can't let it happen. I may be the bad guy, and as much as I love causing trouble, I care about Yang more. I can't hurt her like this. I meant it when I said I loved her."

Weiss groaned in her head, ' _You have got to be kidding me. Does he seriously expect me to believe that he-? Well... Ugh, I hate myself..._ '

"I know you did," Weiss said with a hesitant smile of her own. Blake's words about people not coming back we're still fresh in her head, but her gut feeling was that this was sincere. Ruby's own words about Yang always finding great guys came back to her as well, and they were the ones to listen to. "So why are you coming to me and not Yang? Wouldn't you want her to know so she doesn't attack you?"

"I'm not ready for her to know just yet," he sighed. "It's gonna come out eventually, and it'll be ugly when it does, so I'd rather not tell her until then. I came to you because I need you to distract Emerald. She can only maintain her hallucinations while she's concentrating, so when the fight is over, go up to her. Tap her on the shoulder, say I did a good job, or whatever. Anything to take her focus off Yang."

Weiss nodded, "I can do that. This had better not be a trick though. I'm only trusting you because I know how much you care about her, and if something happens, I'm bringing everything down on top of you. Wait, hold up. Why not just call the police on Cinder?"

"I don't know what Cinder's whole plan is. I do know there's a lot of moving parts, a lot of volatile shit, and-"

"And you think that cornering he might set things off," the heiress finished, earning a nod. It seemed logical, and although Weiss had it in the back of her mind that Mercury didn't want the police to take him too, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

"I think that stopping her one step at a time might diffuse everything," Mercury added.

"And you say you're not a good guy," Weiss grinned. "Alright, I'll stay near Emerald for your match. Good luck."

He nodded, "You too." He took off, and Weiss returned to her seat before the urge to run after him and ask more questions took over.

When it came time for the first match, Weiss was left nervously fidgeting in her seat. She knew she could do what Mercury had asked, but that didn't mean she wasn't afraid of falling. She looked around the keep herself occupied, noticing Emerald sitting alone on the other side of the arena, and got an idea. "Emerald looks a little lonely," the heiress said so her teammates could hear her. "I think I'll go watch with her."

Ruby smiled, "That sounds like a great idea! Actually, why don't all three of us go over?"

' _That would be lovely,_ ' Weiss thought with a grin.

The girls stood up and raced over before the selection process began. Emerald looked very surprised when they waved hello. More surprised than she could, but only Weiss picked up on that. "Oh, hey," she half-heartedly greeted them. "What's up?"

Weiss shrugged, "We thought you looked lonely by yourself, so we decided to keep you company."

"That's alright. You really don't have to-"

"Sure we do," Ruby smiled as she and her teammates sat down. "Mercury needs a cheering section of more than one."

The contestants lined up, and the singles round got underway. The selector started spinning, and Weiss pretended to act surprised when it decided on Yang and Mercury. She chuckled, "This should be interesting. Sorry, Em, but we'll be cheering for Yang."

Emerald shrugged off the comment, and the match began.  
Putting aside her mission for the moment, Weiss got really into the fight. Yang and Mercury were both very skilled in melee combat, which made it all the more interesting to watch. The other thing she noticed, and was very happy to see, was that the two were smiling the entire time. They were both having fun, not taking it too seriously, and it brought a smile to Weiss' face as well.

"Your winner: Yang Xiao Long!" Professor Port announced, getting a roar of applause from the audience.

Weiss cheered and clapped, then remembered what she had to do. She looked over and saw Emerald staring intently at Yang, and knew she had to act. "Great match, huh?" she asked, putting her hand on Emerald's shoulder and lightly shaking it to grab her attention.

Emerald snapped out of her concentration and looked over in a daze, "Huh? Oh, y-yeah. Great match."

They turned back to the arena in time to see Yang extend her arm for a handshake. She was probably trying to be subtle about her relationship in front of so many little, but Mercury had no such plans. He took her by the waist, and dipped her back for a classic movie-style kiss.

Professor Port chuckled over the loudspeakers. "My my. It would appear that our two contestants are more of lovers than fighters."

"Indeed," Oobleck added. "I can confirm that the two of them are, in fact, in a romantic relationship. I congratulate them both on that, as well as a magnificent match!"

Yang giggled and took Mercury's hand as they came back up, and he raised it high into the air. They smiled, shared another quick kiss, took a bow, and walked off amid the roar of the crowd.

Weiss glanced back at Emerald and saw a look of utter bewilderment in her eyes. She smiled to herself, ' _Well, it looks like Mercury was telling the truth. Now to see what we need to do next._ '

 **So uh... that Volume 3 finale... Wow. But hey, at least you guys have this story to keep you company. Like I said, I had two endings planned for this story, and after a quick vote, the much happier ending the one I'm writing, and I'm kinda glad. xD That doesn't mean shit isn't gonna hit the fan soon, but just to a lesser degree. Sort of. Hope you liked the chapter, and I'll see you guys next time!**

 **If you'd like to read the sadder ending, and want to help support me, become my patron! The link is on my profile. (: Thank you to my amazing Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **Francis Lafontaine**

 **You're the best! ❤**


	16. No Plan is Perfect

**Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long. :/ Between not getting into my major at college, being sick, and coming out to my parents, it's been one hell of a month for me. I'm back in business though, and I'm ready to rock! Enjoy! Oh, and make sure you read the note at the end of the chapter when you're done. It's pretty important. XD**

Chapter 16: No Plan is Perfect

The rest of the round finished up without any issues, and Weiss was starting to believe that Mercury was really on their side. He and Yang came to sit with the rest of them after their match, smiling uncontrollably. Emerald was livid, but he didn't care. Everything had gone according to plan, and that was at that mattered.

The next morning came with a positive aura to it that Weiss hadn't felt in a long time. Mercury came by to pick up Yang for lunch, and her glowing happiness seemed to radiate into the rest of her team. Ruby was extra energetic, Weiss felt sharp and confident, and even Blake couldn't help but smile. Of course, Blake had other reasons to be happy that morning. The Councils would be voting on the Faunus equality bill later that afternoon, and even though she was nervous, she couldn't help but be excited.

The vote had more or less already taken place, and all that was left was to make their decision public. After a quick lunch in the fairgrounds, Weiss and Blake sat waiting at a noodle booth with a television turned to a broadcast of the event. The results was set to be announced at noon, and Blake was growing more nervous with every passing second. It didn't help that the news station had their anchors going back and forth about their opinions on the bill either.

The Faunus girl groaned and set her head down on the counter, "I don't know if I can wait ten more minutes... I think the butterflies in my stomach are trying to kill me."

Weiss giggled, "You'll survive. You've waited seventeen years, so what's another ten minutes?"

Blake rolled her eyes, but still smiled at her girlfriend's attempt to help. "It's hard to explain," she said. "It's like the final quarter mile of a marathon. Sure, you've come this far, and there's only a little way to go, but it's the longest quarter mile you've ever ran."

Weiss laughed and pulled her scroll out to find some way to pass the time. A text from Mercury caught her eye though, and she couldn't leave it unopened. She read it in her head, ' _Weiss, meet me at the dart toss booth. I need to fill you in on today._ '

"Crap," she said under her breath, then turned back to Blake. "Hey, I'm going to the bathroom quick. Won't be long."

She hurried off as Blake said goodbye, and started looking for the right stand. Luckily for her, Mercury was good at standing out amid all of the brightly colored booths, so it didn't take very long. She waved as she walked up, "Hey, make it quick. The vote is being announced any minute now."

"No problem," he chuckled. "Cinder's gonna rig the last match in the first round to be Pyrrha against Penny. I'm sure you can see where that's going."

"Pyrrha's semblance..." Weiss gasped. A few worst case scenarios flashed through her mind of what could go wrong, making her shudder.

"Yup. Emerald is gonna make Pyrrha hallucinate so that she'll use her semblance at full power, basically ripping Penny apart. The plan was that after that, Yang 'breaking' my leg, and the train, which was supposed to crash into town this morning, there would be enough Grimm attracted to set of a level nine attack. Cinder makes a big speech, people panic, she gets what she's after, blah blah blah. The good news is that you've all done enough that this won't be enough. She's gonna need to do something else, and I don't think she has a contingency plan like that."

"What do you mean this 'won't' be enough?" Weiss asked. "Are you saying you're going to let it happen?"

He shook his head, "Of course not, just a bad choice of words. Same deal as before, so you just need to distract Emerald again. After that, Cinder's plans should-"

"Hang on," Weiss immediately interrupted, looking and sounding incredibly sceptical. "We need to talk about you before I agree to anything else, because something doesn't add up. You came to me because you didn't want to hurt Yang, not because you wanted to switch sides. In fact, you even said that you weren't. If that's the case, then why are you trying to keep blocking Cinder? Are you on our side or not?"

Mercury glared at her, "I'm on my side. I told you that I'm only with Cinder because she got me out of a really shitty spot. I'm not loyal. I'm only around because I owe her."

"Then why are you so afraid of leaving her?" Weiss asked.

"It's hard to explain. I'm not afraid, I'm just... I don't know. I'm not a good guy, Weiss. I like being an outlaw. I don't think I could be one of you guys."

"Because that's a good excuse," the heiress sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes. "Putting aside all of the other things you could do with your life besides be a criminal, let's just focus on you, Yang, and your current plan. Do you honestly expect to have that life and have Yang just go along with you?"

He shook his head, "No, which is why I still haven't told her yet. I haven't figured out what to do yet."

"You need to tell her, Mercury. I know you're afraid that she'll be upset, but she'll understand, I promise."

Mercury paused and turned away, still thinking. He paced in a quick circle, angrily staring at the ground. He let out a frustrated yell, "DAMN IT! Fuck ALL of this! You know that I want to tell her, I really do, but I don't even know how to start that conversation. There's so much that could go wrong... I don't want her to leave me..."

"The longer you wait, the less she'll understand," Weiss replied, shaking her head. "But, if I know Yang, then she won't leave you because of this. She loves you way too much for that. If you really loved her, then you'd tell her the truth. You should've told her a long time ago."

"Don't lecture me," Mercury shot back. He was beyond angry, but it wasn't directed at Weiss. It was clear that he was angry at himself, and just lashing out.

The heiress sighed, "I'm going to help you no matter what because I won't let my friends get hurt, but you need to talk to Yang. Please?"

"I know I do... Alright, I'll talk to her after this round. That way we'll have already saved the match, and there won't be any reason not to go after Cinder."

"Still think you're not a good guy?" Weiss smirked. "That works though. I hope it goes well."

He nodded and took off, leaving Weiss feeling a little more confident in him. ' _No matter way he says, he's on our side. He just doesn't want to admit it yet. I guess Ruby was right after all. Yang really does have good taste in men._ '

She made her way back to join Blake, and saw that Sun and Velvet were there too. She smiled, "Hey, guys."

"Hi," Velvet said almost dismissively, not looking up from her scroll. "Sorry, I'm watch the news from the other kingdoms you see whether they passed the bill or not. THIS WAIT IS KILLING ME!"

"You and me both," Blake added.

The feed on the screen had changed to a shot of Vale's capitol building, with thousands of people waiting outside. There was a blonde reporter in front of the camera as well, getting some news from her earpiece. "An interesting development," the woman said, looking back into the camera. "I'm getting word that the White Fang have released a video in response to today's events, and also to the arrest of Adam Taurus, a violent leader within the group."

There was a moment of static, then black, then it cut to an average-looking man sitting at a desk in front of White Fang banner. He had red hair and fox ears, but wasn't wearing on of the typical masks that members wore. Instead, he was showing his face with a proud smile.

"Hello, everyone," he said into the camera. "My name is Darren, and I'm the new spokesperson of the White Fang. I'm sure that most of you have heard by now that one of our prominent leaders, Adam Taurus, was arrested last night after a rally. Adam was a large part of why our organisation turned from fighting for equality to fighting for vengeance, and after some discussion among the rest of our leaders, I'm proud to say that we will be returning to the former."

The banner behind him suddenly dropped, revealing the old, white emblem of the White Fang. He continued, "While we haven't yet decided on who will take Adam's place, we want to assure everyone that we plan to return to our peaceful ways. Regardless of what happens in the voting today, we are here, once again, to do what we set out to do, which is bridge the gap between humans and Faunus. We know that not everyone will be willing to accept our organisation at first, and that resentment will linger for a while to come, and that's okay. This is a process, all of this, and we're prepared for whatever is next to come. Thank you."

"Whoa," Blake said in surprise as it cut back to the capitol building. "That was unexpected. I mean, it makes a lot of sense, but... wow."

Sun shrugged, "Hey, if they guy fuelling the fire is gone, you may as well take advantage of it. I doubt their attitude is gonna stay so peaceful if the vote fails everywhere, so we'll have to wait and see."

Velvet suddenly gasped in excitement after refreshing her news app, "Mistral and Vacuo both passed it! AHHH! THAT'S SO- So... Um... Oh... A-Atlas didn't..."

"I'm not surprised," Weiss sighed, shaking her head. "There aren't many Faunus that live there though."

"That's true. All that leaves is the one that matters most to us... I- LOOK!"

She pointed to the screen, and everyone froze when they saw one of the councilmen walking toward the podium. Weiss felt her heart rate double in that instant, and could only hope that they had done the right thing."

"Here we go..." Blake said in a shaky voice.

The counsels councilman cleared his throat, "Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, the Council of Vale has reached a decision. After much deliberation, we are happy to announce that we have signed this historic bill into law. Faunus are hereby guaranteed equal rights kingdom-wide, and freedom from discrimination."

The group burst into applause and joyful cheers, though none louder than Blake and Weiss. The two had to rush over to Velvet to stop her from falling as she nearly fainted, and from there the cheers turned into a tight group hug.

Blake was in tears from happiness, "Oh my God. Oh my God, Weiss. You did it! It really happened!"

"I fucking love you, Weiss," Sun smiled, grabbing her and kissing her on the cheek. "Totally platonic, of course."

Weiss blushed and went to speak, but was met by a tackle-hug from Velvet before she could. "YOU'RE THE BEST HUMAN EVER!" the bunny girl exclaimed, pinning Weiss to the ground with her embrace.

"Can't... breathe..." Weiss gasped, and was soon helped back to her feet. "I appreciate the thanks, but I'm not the one you should be grateful to. The Council approved this, not me. The government is behind you, and so are the people."

"Maybe, but you got it to their attention in the first place," Sun chuckled. "Could this have happened without you? Maybe in ten years or so, but not today. You did a really great thing, Weiss."

Blake wrapped her arms around Weiss' shoulders and held her for a deep kiss. "I love you, Weiss," she said as they came apart.

The heiress smiled, "I love you too. I'm so happy for you, for all of you."

"I guess that just leaves one thing left to do," Blake beamed. Her hands were still shaking from excitement, but she had enough control of them to reach up and pinch the end of her bow between her fingers. She gave a quick tug, releasing the ribbon and letting her ears wiggle free. "There. I'm not hiding anymore, and I never will again."

"What about with Weiss' dad?" Sun asked, and Blake's eyes turned to the ground.

"I have an idea," Weiss grinned. She took out her scroll, put her arm around Blake's shoulders, and took a picture of the two of them smiling. She opened Rembook and started writing a post with the picture. "Let's see... 'Celebrating Faunus Equality with my girlfriend and favourite Faunus.' And... posted!"

Blake's mouth dropped open, "Wow... I guess I'm really not hiding now. We're gonna have one awkward call tonight."

"Probably, but so what? What's the worst that-?"

"Hey," a male voice suddenly called out from behind, and everyone turned to see Francis walking up to them. "I uh, I saw you at the rally last night."

Blake glared at him, "We know. We watched you go in. What the fuck, Francis? You said you weren't involved anymore."

"I wasn't," he shrugged. "But when Adam talked about the 'revolution' it just set something off inside me. Look, that's not what I came here to talk about. I wanted to talk to you, Weiss?"

"I'm listening," the heiress replied, folding her arms.

"I just wanted to say thank you. You've done a really, really great thing. I'm sure you think you know how big this is, but you don't. You're a hero. There's not a Faunus alive that won't know your name, and pass it on to their children, and their grandchildren."

Weiss smiled, "That's only if someone finds out that I was the one who made this possible, which they won't. This secret stays with us."

"Wha...?" Velvet asked, looking very confused. "Why wouldn't you want people to know it was you?"

"Because without that knowledge, this is will go down as the government, and the people, being responsible, not one activist. I want everyone to look back on this and see it as a shining example of the right thing being done. If my name isn't on it, then that's exactly what'll happen."

There was a pause, but judging by the looks on everyone's faces, Weiss knew that they understood. Sun patted her on the shoulder, and Velvet gave her another hug before handing her off to Blake to do the same.

"Like I said, you're a hero," Francis said again, reinforcing his point. "Alright, well, I'll see you guys later. Blake, text me sometime soon so we can get together and actually have a chance hang out and talk. Maybe a double date?"

Blake's eyes lit up, "Please tell me that you and Heather got back together."

"Mhm! We saw each other a few days ago, and she agreed to give it another try. She's a bit sceptical, but now that the White Fang is back to being peaceful, that wouldn't be the reason we break up again."

"Good," Blake smiled. "I hope it works out. You two are adorable together."

The next hour saw the fairgrounds explode into life. Every Faunus in the school, visiting, or just nearby, were all gathered to celebrate. They weren't the only ones though. All of their human friends and classmates were there to share in the joy as well. Blake got a few shocked looks from people when they first saw her ears, but that was followed in every case by them coming up and giving her a hug. Weiss couldn't help but giggle every time at how embarrassed Blake looked to be receiving attention, she was so proud of her for taking it in stride.

The initial craziness died down after a while, leaving Weiss and Blake sitting at a tea stand waiting for their drinks to be done. "Hey, I've got an idea," Weiss said, perking up. "It might sound like a dumb question, but is there anything you want to do now?"

Blake smiled and started to blush, "Um... I don't know, actually. Maybe just taking a walk through town holding hands?"

"Really? I'm absolutely up for it, and we'll be going in plenty of high-end stores, but wow! You, of all people, want to go and flaunt yourself?"

"That's not the way I'd phrase it," the Faunus girl replied. "It's not like I want to go up to everyone we see and tell them that we're a couple. I just want to have a nice walk where we can both enjoy ourselves and be who we are. If people don't like it, then it's their problem, not ours."

Weiss started to grin, "Okay, maybe you don't want to flaunt it, but I do a little. Let's go!"

"No, no, it's alright," Blake laughed. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but more that she didn't want to say how much she liked the idea. "We can go tomorrow. I just wanna relax right now. I'll need as much energy as I can muster to cheer for Yang tonight."

Afternoon quickly turned to evening, making Weiss more and more nervous about getting her part right. Team RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, and Mercury all got together for dinner before it was time to start, and the heiress was starting to relate to Blake about the butterflies trying to kill her. Mercury picked up on it, and tried his best to drop subtle words and phrases to put her at ease. The gesture worked more than the actual words, and she was able to at least somewhat calm herself down.

After their meal, JNPR and SSSN got in a shuttle up to Amity, while the others stayed behind for now. Everyone insisted that Yang go with them since she could be picked in the first round, but she refused. She argued that since she'd been first last round, she probably wouldn't be this time. Weiss tried to explain that the logic behind that didn't hold, but quickly realised that she would get further talking to a wall, and walked off with Blake before she exploded.

"I'm not going to kill her, I'm not going to kill her," Weiss repeated as she and Blake sat down at a tea stall to watch the first match.

Blake giggled and stole a quick kiss on her girlfriend's cheek, "Relax, it's Yang. What can you do?"

Weiss muttered something under her breath, and took a deep breath to get herself back to a good spot. They ordered their drinks, and turned their attention to the television. Port and Oobleck were finishing up discussing their thoughts on the quarterfinals round, and gave the okay to select the first match. The spinners revved up, running through the eight remaining contestants, then gradually slowed down until they each stopped on one.

"And our first match is..." Doctor Oobleck anxiously began as they came to a stop. "Pyrrha Nikos versus Penny Polendina!"

Weiss blinked a few times, staring at the screen in disbelief, ' _Wait... What? I don't understand... Mercury said that- Oh no. No no no no no. Was he lying? Buy why would-?_ '

Her scroll started ringing in the middle of her thoughts, and she wasn't sure how to feel about the name that showed as she picked up. "Hello?"

"Please tell me you're on Amity," Mercury's panicked voice came through.

Weiss narrowed her eyes, "No, I'm not. What's going on? You said that they'd be last!"

"They should be," he replied, wind rushing across the mic to suggest that he was running. "She must've changed the order after last night."

"I-" Weiss began, but cut herself off when she noticed a flash of grey sprint past her. "MERCURY!"

The boy spun around, and hung up the call as he ran over to her. "We need to get to the colosseum. C'mon, there's- FUCK! Shuttles don't run during matches!"

"I'm calling Nora," Weiss said, fear showing through in her voice. "Hopefully she can-" She was never able to finish that sentence, or make her call. Blake screamed, and the loud sound of shearing metal made Weiss snap her eyes back to the match, just in time to watch as Penny was torn apart.

Mercury's hands slowly came up to cover his mouth, "No..." The feed cut to black, and Weiss slowly turned to face him, rage burning in her eyes. "Weiss, I-I didn't know, I swear."

"Save it. Whether you're ready or not, you're talking to Yang and the rest of my team right now. We need to figure out what to do."

Blake looked utterly confused, as well as shocked and ready to cry from what she'd just witnessed, "What're you two talking about? What's going on?"

"No time," Weiss said in a panic.

She grabbed Mercury by the wrist, and started sprinting off to find Yang and Ruby. Blake still had no clue what was happening, but judging by the look on her girlfriend's face, now wasn't the time to question. She started running as well, frantically looking for her teammates. After scanning the stands for a few moments, she spotted Yang trying to console her weeping younger sister. "There!" she exclaimed, and ran over.

Yang was holding Ruby close, gently stroking the crying girl's hair. "Shh, shh, you're okay. It's gonna be okay..."

"Yang," Weiss called out. "We've got a problem. A big problem."

"I know. You guys should go, Ruby and I need-"

"No, you don't know," Mercury interrupted, not looking confident in himself.

Weiss nodded, "He has some things he needs to tell you. All of you."

Mercury took a long, deep breath, looking at the confused faces of the other three girls, and started to explain. To Weiss' surprise, he didn't leave any major detail out. Cinder, his match with Yang, everything. It took a while for everything to come out, but once it had, the rest of team RWBY were in complete shock.

Yang looked on the verge of tears, "So... all of this is because of you?"

"Yeah, it was my fault..." Mercury trailed off. While not directly because of him, he clearly felt responsible.

There was a short silence where nobody knew how to react. Weiss had to stand and watched her friends react as Mercury's words sank in. They all looked hurt and confused, and nobody more so than Yang, but Ruby came very close. Her eyes were practically burning into Mercury from the intensity of her glare.

The leader clenched her teeth, "You..." She took a step forward, and Yang quickly grabbed her arm to keep her back.

"Don't," Mercury said, waving for her to let go. "Go ahead, Ruby. Take your best shot. I deserve it."

Ruby didn't hesitate to step forward and up to Mercury, stopping with her face just inches from his. He didn't flinch though, not at any of it. Weiss expected her leader to listen and start wailing on him, but it didn't happen. Instead, Ruby firmly put her hands on Mercury's shoulders and pulled him down so that their foreheads were touching as she piercingly stared into his eyes.

"Tell me it was an accident," the redhead hissed, using every ounce of self control she had not to hurt him. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you did everything you could to save her."

Mercury blinked and gave a slow nod, "I tried, Ruby. Penny and Pyrrha's match was supposed to be the last of this round. I don't know why Cinder changed it, but she did."

"He's telling the truth," Weiss added. "When the match was started, he called me and tried to get to the airships. We both knew it was too late though."

Ruby didn't look convinced, "Why did you wait until the match started? Why didn't you do something before then?"

"I'd like to know that too," Yang growled, walking up beside her sister.

"I thought it was a mistake," Mercury sighed. "My first thought was that Cinder forgot to set the matches so it couldn't happen then, and would correct it or something. It's a shitty excuse, but that's why. I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean much, and I'm sure that you don't believe me, but I really am sorry..."

Blake shook her head, "You're right about us not believing you. So what now? Do you expect us to just let you go back? Ignore this and act like nothing happened?"

"No, I don't. I expect you to have me arrested, and I wouldn't blame you. All I want is to apologise, especially to Yang. I should've told you about me a long time ago. I just didn't want to hurt you."

"You're doing a pretty fucking poor job," Yang said in the most hate-filled voice that Weiss had ever heard from her. Her eyes had been red since the start of this, but now there was a small fire growing from them. "How did you think this could possibly end without anyone getting hurt?"

Her boyfriend sighed, "At first I didn't know what to think. I guess I wasn't expecting us to fall for each other like we did. Once I realised that, it was too late to just back out or tell you straight up. I wanted to, but I had no idea how."

There was another long pause, and all eyes were now on the two of them. Even Ruby had stepped back to stay out of the way. Weiss could see the hurt and conflict in Yang's eyes, and could only hope that she wouldn't do anything crazy.

"Tell me that you meant it," the brawler finally said in a low, shaky voice. "All the times we've talked, when you said that you love me... Tell me you meant it."

A warm, genuine smile formed across the boy's lips, "Of course I meant it, and I still do. I know it's gonna sound corny, and cliche, and probably like a blatant lie, but I went to Weiss because of you. I couldn't let our match end the way Cinder had planned. I'd never hurt you like that. I'm only with Cinder because I owe her, and I like causing trouble. I'm not loyal to her though. The only side I'm on is mine, or at least I have been until recently."

"And who's side are you on now?"

"Whatever side you're on," Mercury answered without hesitation. "I care about you too much to keep working for her. Chaos is fun and all, but I've always known that I'm not gonna get anything good out of it. I'd much rather be with you. Well, if you'll stay with me..."

Ruby was still glaring at him, "What happens if you two break up? Still gonna have this attitude then?"

"We may find out soon," Yang added.

"Go ahead," the silver boy sighed. "End it. I understand, and I won't be mad. It's not gonna make me go back to Cinder though. What's done is done, and I'm just trying to fix what I can now. Do whatever you're gonna do."

The girls looked around at each other, but couldn't decide on what to do next. What they did agree on was that this wasn't something to keep talking about in public. The five of them made their way back to the dorms in relative silence, and had Mercury wait outside their room so they could talk. Blake made sure to take scroll, then closed the door behind her. Yang immediately rushed to her bed and started crying into her sheets. Ruby tried to comfort her, but her older sister kept pushing her away. The rest of the team sat and waited until the muffled sobs died down.

' _Is this my fault?_ ' Weiss wondered, looking on at her heartbroken teammate. ' _Could I have stopped this if I'd just turned him in?_ ' The question had no easy answer, which made her feel even worse.

"What do I do?" Yang finally said, her face still buried in her pillow. "I love him... but... AHHH! GOD DAMN IT! WHY? I finally put myself back out there, and this is what I get? I should've known it was too good to be true..."

Weiss frowned, "Yang, he's still the same person. If anything, he's an even better person than when you met him."

"Stop defending him!" Ruby exclaimed. It was clear that she wasn't going to forgive him in the near future, or give him any leeway here.

"I'm not defending him. I'm just trying to help and hear him out. From talking to him, I believe that he's being honest. He really does love you, Yang. He's gone this far to help us because of you."

The blonde looked up and wiped her eyes, still sniffing, "But why would he hide it? Why couldn't be just tell me from the start?"

Blake sighed, "Probably the same reason I didn't tell you about my ears when we first met. You never know who will and won't have a bad reaction. In his case, knowing that a bad reaction sends you to jail, I guess I can't really blame him."

"You're on his side too?" Ruby asked, looking visibly upset.

"I... I don't know how I feel about this quite yet. All I'll say is that if Weiss believes him, then I'm at least willing to give him a fair chance."

Weiss smiled, "Thank you. Look, Ruby, I know you're upset about Penny, and you have every right to be, but it's not Mercury you should be angry at. It's Cinder, and we're not going to let her hurt anyone else."

It took the leader a moment to think about it, but eventually she nodded, "Alright, but we need to go to Ozpin. He'll know what to do."

"Agreed," Yang added, looking a little better. "I wanna talk to Mercury before we go though. Can one of you let him in?"

"Do you want us to give you some privacy?" Blake asked, moving to the door.

"No, I want you here. Not that I think something will happen, but I just want you want you here."

Her partner nodded and opened the door, tapping Mercury on the shoulder and telling him to come inside. He walked inside and stopped a few steps from the middle of the room, looking around at everyone's exclusions. He sighed, "So what's the consensus?"

"We need to talk first," Yang said in a fairly neutral voice. She got up from her bed and stood in front of her boyfriend, not taking her eyes off of his. "I want to give you a second chance, we all do, but I need a promise from you first."

"Anything."

Yang started to smile, "Promise me that you'll never lie to me again. I don't mean that you can't ever say a little fib about stuff, but when it's something this big, or anywhere close, I expect to be the first to know."

"I promise," Mercury replied, taking Yang's hands in his. "I'm so, so sorry about all of this. You have my word that I'll never keep something from you again, any of you. Assuming I'm not in jail by the end of the week. It'll be pretty hard to talk to you then."

"Then that's that," Blake smiled. "We need to talk to Ozpin now. Like, right now."

"Gladly. I'm ready to put this whole fucking mess behind me."

 **Here we go guys, the final stretch! Starting at Checkmate has only two chapters left, so place your bets on how it's gonna end! Be sure to follow and all that good stuff if you haven't already, and I'll see you guys next time!**

 **As always, thank you to my splendid patrons:**

 **Mike Zembrzuski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **Francis Lafontaine**

 **Nhat Pham**

 **You're the best! ❤**


	17. What Goes Up

**Hi guys! So, I feel like I should give you a better explanation of what's been going on, and why I've been updating so infrequently. As I've said, I've been having problems lately with my depression. I've had a few episodes in the last month, some going a little further than I'd like to admit, and it's made writing incredibly difficult. I've gotten into drawing as a result, and I've been having a lot of fun getting into it. (You should check out my DeviantArt page, same username as here.) I've bounced back significantly, and I'm hoping that I'll be back to normal as summer rolls around. So, yeah, that's that. Thank you all for being patient with me. I hope this chapter is worth the wait. (:**

Chapter 17: What Goes Up...

"After much consideration, the judges and I have come to an agreement," Ironwood said over the Vytal Festival Broadcast. He had just finished addressing the truth about Penny, and had now moved on to Pyrrha. "We've agreed that there is no way Miss Nikos could've know that her semblance would harm Penny in that way. As a result, she will not be disqualified, and will move on to the semifinals. However, the semifinals and finals rounds have been rescheduled to tomorrow night. We take safety very seriously, and want to take this time to ensure that no further accidents can occur."

Ozpin sighed and clicked off the monitor in his office, and turned to the five students standing in front of his desk. "So, Mercury, I believe you have some explaining to do. One moment while I bring up General Ironwood on a call while he's on his way. James, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," the general's voice came from the computer.

"Excellent. Now then, Mercury, care to start from the beginning?"

"Not much to tell," Mercury replied, acting shockingly calm for the situation he was in. "I work for Cinder. She picked me up from a pretty fucked up situation a few years ago, and I agreed to help her because, well, I owed her. I'm not loyal to her, but a job's a job, especially when you're not getting hired anywhere else."

"Surely there's more to it than that."

The silver-haired boy shrugged, "Honestly, no. I do her dirty work, I get paid and a place to sleep. I won't lie, I love it. I like being a bad guy, causing trouble, or at least I did for the longest time. I guess you could say I've had a bit of a new outlook on life since I came here."

"Three guesses why," Yang quietly giggled, but it was still loud enough for everyone to hear.

Ironwood wasn't as amused though. "I find it a bit hard to believe that a change of heart like that could happen so quickly."

"To be fair, it's been a few weeks," Mercury said in his defense. "Yang's the whole reason I went to Weiss in the first place. At the end of our match, Emerald was gonna use her semblance to make Yang think I was attacking her. I couldn't let that happen to her, so I got Weiss to distract her. After that, I kinda realised that none of Cinder's plan is gonna work out well for me or anyone I care about, so I decided to switch sides. Or, at least leave her side. I'm not a good guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I think I'm done being bad."

Ozpin nodded in acknowledgment, "I see. That would explain your kiss following that match. Why, then, were you unable to stop Emerald from interfering in the match between Pyrrha and Penny?"

"I think Cinder got wary after my fight, so she changed things up. Pyrrha and Penny were meant to be the last of the four matches, but she bumped them to the first instead. I don't think she suspected me, but she must've thought that there would be more interference if she kept with the original plan. I wasn't on Amity yet, and couldn't get there in time."

"How did she control the match order?" Ironwood asked. "Wait, one moment." The elevator doors opened a moment later, and the general walked behind Ozpin's desk to continue the conversation.

Before he could answer, Mercury's scroll started to ring from his pocket. "Cinder," he said. "Want me to answer?"

"Yes," Ozpin nodded. "This could be very beneficial. Put it on speaker, please."

Mercury picked up and did as instructed. "Sup?" he greeted his employer, acting like he'd just woken up.

"Where are you?" Cinder angrily asked. "I needed you here in case this had been enough to set off the Grimm."

Mercury yawned, "I'm in bed, and why do you sound so pissed off? We both knew this wasn't gonna do it."

"Nonetheless, you should've been on Amity like I instructed. I- Wait, what do mean you're in bed? The rest of us are in the room, and you're clearly not."

"Yang's bed," Mercury chuckled, keeping his voice down as if Yang were asleep beside him. "So what now?"

A low growl came across the speaker for a moment, "Now? Now you get back here, and we move ahead with our backup plan. Neo springs Roman, we rig a few more matches, then turn the soldiers and shoot a few ships out of the sky in the aftermath."

"Works for me. Can you do me a favour though? Do you mind leaving Yang out of the rigging this time?"

"Why would I do that?" Cinder asked, sounding somewhere between confused and annoyed. "Just because you have a crush doesn't mean that I care, or that I'm willing to risk everything so that it can continue for another day before we kill her and everyone else here. And she had better not be able to hear this conversation.

"She's more than a crush," Mercury strongly asserted. "And she's asleep." There was a bite in his tone that made Blake smile, along with the rest of her teammates. She knew he wouldn't snap like that if he didn't mean it.

There was a short pause before Cinder continued. "It was you," she said, almost in wonder. "There's no other way her teammates would've known to bother Emerald, and that you would've reacted so calmly to not being attacked."

Mercury did his best to keep an angry voice, despite smiling from how this was playing out, "Fuck off. You're seriously gonna throw the blame on me for your shit not going perfectly?"

"Listen to me you little brat, I-"

"No, you listen to me," he shot back. "I've known this whole time that I'm not getting anything good outta this, but I stuck around because I didn't have anything better, and didn't have a good enough reason to leave. Well, here's my reason. Later, Cinder. I'm not gonna rat you out, but I'm not gonna hide anything if someone asks. Tell Em and Neo I say hi."

He hung up the phone and gave a heavy sigh, then remembered what the point of the call had been. He smiled, "Well... I guess that's that. Did you get what you needed?"

Ironwood nodded, "Mostly. What did she mean by-?"

Mercury scroll went off again, and she groaned as he answered, "What?"

"Let's not be hasty," Cinder sighed, not sounding happy with herself. "I shouldn't have blamed you so quickly. I'm... sorry. Can you be back here in a few minutes? We need to talk things over more in person. Neo is still going to free Roman and take control of the airships, but we need to discuss some new ways to get the right kind of reaction we need from the audience."

Mercury looked at Ozpin and got a nod before answering, "Sure. Gimme, like, ten minutes to get dressed and everything and I'll be back." He hung up and looked around. "Do one of you mind walking back with me? Just to hang out outside the door in case she's gonna try to off me? No way she's not still suspicious."

Blake smiled, "I'll go."

"Now, back to what I was saying," Ironwood said before any further interruptions could be made. "What did she mean about my soldiers? And how is she controlling the order of matches?"

Mercury gave a nervous laugh, "Uhh... She may have planted a virus into your entire system. She can rig matches, control the live feed from Amity, turn your soldiers against you, shit like that. You'll probably wanna take a look at it."

"You don't say," Weiss sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes.

Ironwood grumbled to himself and started furiously typing on Ozpin's computer. Sure enough, after a deep diagnostic scan, dozens of red errors flashed across the screen. He cursed under his breath for the next several minutes while he went about fixing and removing the offending programs, and finally let out a sigh as he stepped away.

"That should do it," he said. "I revoked anything involving my soldiers, and everything else except for the ability to choose match orders. I think it's best that Cinder still believes that she's in control for the time being. Team RWBY, I'm placing you in charge of keeping her from harming other students through these rigged matches. Mercury, I expect you to work with them as well. If you can help us get through this without further damage, I'll consider pardoning you. If you'll excuse us now, Ozpin and I have a lot of planning and discussion to take care."

The headmaster nodded, "Indeed. You have the evening off to rest up and prepare for tomorrow. I sense that it will not be an easy day."

The five students nodded and left his office, starting a hasty walk back to the dorms. Mercury cleared his throat after a little while, "I'd say that went well."

"Maybe for you," Ruby sighed, not looking up. "What do you think Cinder's gonna say when you get back?"

"Hell if I know. I'll be amazed if she actually shares anything with me though. I'll be even more amazed if I don't die in my sleep tonight, but I'm guessing you guys wouldn't care too much if I did."

Weiss shrugged, "There's one way to find out."

"Hey, knock it off," Yang bit back, quick to come to her boyfriend's defense. "He's helping us, isn't he?"

"He could be lying," Ruby pointed out.

"I'm right here," Mercury chuckled, acting hurt. "Look, I know you still don't trust me, and I don't blame you. I've done some pretty fucked up shit, and I can blame part of it on an equally fucked up childhood, but I'm trying to come back. You can at least give me that chance, right?"

"We'll see," Blake replied, and the rest of the walk was spent in silence. She split off from her teammates in the stairwell and followed Mercury back to his room, leaning against the wall to wait for him. "Good luck."

He took a calming breath and went inside, and Blake tried to listen in on what was being said inside. She had a great sense of hearing, but wasn't able to make anything out. Cinder was clearly speaking in a hushed tone. Blake wanted to press her ear against the door, but was afraid that they'd somehow find out. She figured that Mercury was safe from his fears after about a minute, but wanted to stay a little longer just in case. She didn't want him alone quite yet either, she decided to text him and see if she could get him back out.

The idea worked, and he emerged from the room a little while after. "What's up?" he whispered, quickly leading Blake away from his door.

"I think you should come back to my room for a bit," Blake replied. "You and Yang are gonna need to have a talk at some point, I know it, and I think we'd all like to keep an eye on you. No offense."

"I gotcha, and none taken. Here, let's go."

Blake turned and led the way. "So what did Cinder say?"

"Not much," Mercury shrugged. "Nothing you didn't hear on the call at least. Lots of her and Emerald bouncing ideas off of each other, but they couldn't decide on anything. I'll let you know when they do."

"Alright. If you had to guess, what do you think they'd lean towards?"

Mercury thought for a moment, then shook his head, "I honestly don't know. If I had to guess, she'll probably not go the hallucination route again. She knows that Ironwood is suspicious, so whatever she does, she'll probably try to stage it like it's an accident or something. Either that or she'll openly shoot someone in the face."

"One or the other," Blake giggled, starting to lighten up to the boy's sarcastic sense of humor. They arrived back at her room, and she opened the door to find Yang sitting in the middle of the floor, crying. "Shit... Yang...? Do you wanna come out here and talk?"

The brawler sniffled and nodded, "S-Sure..."

"Okay. Mercury, can you wait inside?"

Mercury went in without hesitation, switching places with his girlfriend as she slowly got to her feet and came to join Blake outside. Blake shut the door behind them, and gave her partner a sad look, "You're not okay with this... Can you tell me what's wrong? What specifically, I mean."

"Was it that obvious?" Yang asked, wiping her eyes before sitting down with her back against the wall. "I don't know what to do... I'm so conflicted. I love him, I really do, but this is so... I mean, I can't just look past it, can I? I don't even know which I'm more mad at; the fact that he lied to me, or that he's basically a terrorist."

"He's... he could be worse," Blake replied, sounding a little uneasy.

"He admitted to killing innocent people... and so much more... How can I forgive him for that?"

Blake shook her head and sat down next to her grieving teammate, "You think this is bad? Remember, I dated Adam for a while. He killed far more civilians, not to mention that he was downright abusive. I'm not saying that this is insignificant in comparison, and I'm not saying you should ignore all of this, I'm just saying that I think you're looking at it wrong. Mercury hasn't done anything to you, or any of us. In fact, it looks like he's doing the opposite. He stopped you from getting framed, and tried to save Penny. Whatever he used to be doesn't seem to be him anyone, it's the person you met and fell in love with that matters. Do you still love that person?"

Yang paused to think for a few minutes. Her face went back and forth between so many emotions, trying to figure out how she felt. "I do," she finally said, sprouting a faint smile. "If he's gonna stay the guy I met him as, the guy I fell in love with, then yes. I'm just having trouble believing that there isn't another side of him that's gonna come out now."

"I don't blame you for thinking that. Maybe you could tell him that you want to put things on hold for a while? Not a breakup, just some time apart to let you figure things out."

Yang considered it, but shook her head, "No, I don't think that'd be right... Or maybe it would be? Fuck, I just... I don't know... Blake, this is gonna sound weird, but can you make up my mind for me? I can't make this decision..."

"I have a better idea," Blake smiled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a quarter. "Flip a coin. Heads is you stay, tails is you take a break." It seemed stupid, but Blake did have a plan. Her hope was that if Yang didn't get the outcome she wanted, she'd realise that she did want the opposite.

Yang nodded and took the coin. She put it on her thumb and flicked it into the air, into her palm, and slapped it down on her arm. When she pulled her hand away, she let out a long sigh. "Tails..."

Blake gave her partner a pat on the shoulder, "There. Happy?"

"Well... No, actually," the blonde replied, and it looked like Blake's plan had worked. "I don't think I wanna take a break... I thought I did, maybe, but... I can't. I love him too much to not give him another chance. He's on thin ice though."

Yang took another minute to calm down and clear her head, but she still knew she'd made the right decision. She and Blake walked back down the hall together and entered their room, finding everyone sitting in anticipation. Mercury stood up and looked at Yang the instant she came into view. From his eyes, Blake could tell that he'd been crying, and the rest of her teammate's sympathetic faces seemed to reflect that as well.

"So..." he said slowly, not sounding confident at all.

Yang held a straight face, keeping eye contact and letting her boyfriend sweat for a moment. He was clearly afraid of what she was going to say, which came as a huge reassurance to her and the rest of the team. They could see that he truly cared. "I've made up my mind," Yang said, putting her hands on her hips.

"A-Alright... I'm assuming it's not what I wanna hear?"

"Nope," the blonde grinned and walked over to give him a kiss. "I just wanna make one thing clear, if I haven't already. You say you've changed, right? I fell for the Mercury I met at that party. As long as that's the real you, then I'm staying. You're walking on eggshells for the near future for obvious reasons, but I'm not gonna leave you if you've really changed."

Mercury gave a huge sigh of relief, "I have, I swear. I love you, Yang. I would never do anything to hurt you."

"So what now?" Weiss asked as Yang and Mercury shared a tight hug. "General Ironwood basically put the fate of the tournament on our shoulders. What are we even supposed to do to keep Cinder from doing anything?"

"You're up, Mercury," Blake said, looking to the boy for direction.

He shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. There's not much I can tell you until she fills me in on the plan. I get the feeling she's not gonna tell me until it's time to go, so stay on your toes. If I text or call or whatever and say I need you to be somewhere or do something, do it."

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "Do what you say, when you say, no questions asked? I wanna believe that you're on our side, but that could let you get away with a lot."

"I know, and I don't really know what to say to help that. It's all gonna come down to whether or not you trust me. Comforting, huh?" The sarcasm wasn't helping as much as he thought it was, but it was better than nothing. The team shared a few glances back and forth, and even Yang seemed hesitant to agree.

"How about this," Yang ventured, smiling. "Is there a way we can keep your scroll on when you're with Cinder so that we can listen in? Maybe set up a group call or something?"

Weiss nodded, "That could work. We can ask Ironwood if they have microphone or something for Mercury to wear."

"Better yet, why not just join them in the stands?" Ruby suggested. "I don't think it'd be too suspicious. Yang is gonna wanna sit with Mercury anyway, and it's natural for us to follow her. Just stay together and we'll be fine. If it comes to it and we all get separated, we'll go with your plan, Mercury."

The silver boy nodded, "Sounds good. You have my word that if I have to call you, it'll be for what you think. I know that doesn't mean much, but still."

"It's enough for me," Yang beamed.

"You're such a pushover," Weiss laughed, rolling her eyes. "But, it's better than-" The heiress suddenly froze when her father's ringtone started to play from her scroll. Everyone else recognised it as well.

Ruby cleared her throat, "Um... We'll give you some privacy. Yang, Mercury, wanna go see what JNPR's up to?" The couple agreed in an instant, and the three of them made a quick exit.

"This should be fun," Blake said with a nervous laugh as Weiss answered the call.

"Hi, daddy... Yeah, one second," Weiss said, then put her phone on speaker. "Okay, Blake can hear you now... Look, I-"

"That thought can wait," her father quickly interrupted. "Weiss, I want to know why you hid this from me."

The heiress nervously looked down at her feet, "W-Well... I guess it's the same reason I didn't tell you that she and I were dating in the first place... I know how you feel about these things, especially when it comes to Faunus. I didn't think you'd approve, and I didn't want to have to stop seeing her..."

"Don't you remember what I told you the last time we spoke?" he asked.

Both Weiss and Blake paused, trying to think back to what he was referring to. It didn't take long for Blake to remember though. "You said you'd never get that upset with her."

"Thank you, Blake. Weiss, did you think I was lying to you?"

"N-No," Weiss stuttered, not sure if the conversation was going well or poorly yet. "So... you're not mad?"

Her father sighed, "I'm not thrilled, but I'm not angry that your partner is a Faunus. There are bigger things I know I'll have to fight you on, and this doesn't need to be one of them. I'm more upset that you felt as though you needed to hide this from me. You didn't think you could talk to me at all... I thought we were past all of the lies. Is there anything else you haven't told me about?"

"No, sir. Not that I can think of, at least."

"Good," he replied, then started to chuckle. "So, Blake, of all the people at this school, what made you take such an interest in the heiress of, I'm assuming, a company you despise more than any other?"

Blake didn't know how to respond at first, and sat with her mouth open for a few moments. Not that she didn't have an answer, but she was simply shocked that Weiss' father was taking an interest, that he was being friendly, even. She had expected this to end in shouting, tears, nothing close to this. Granted, the call wasn't over yet, but it didn't seem like it would dissolve into that.

She blushed and twiddled her thumbs, "Umm... It's hard to say, really. We had a bit of a rocky start getting to know each other, but after we became friends, I just kinda felt something between us. It was odd, but so, so strong. I never thought she'd say yes, but I knew that I had to at least try."

"Rocky?" Weiss giggled. "Remember the night you ran away? We were practically at each other's throats."

"Well, yeah. To be fair, I kinda had it coming for hiding my past from you and the rest of the team. I'm glad we worked things out though."

"Me too," Weiss smiled, leaning in for a swift kiss.

"Ahem," her father asserted, reminding the girls that they were still on a call. "Well, all I can say is that I'm happy that you're happy. Both of you. I'll admit, it may take some time to be completely alright with this, but I'll manage as long as your proposal isn't hidden from me as well."

Weiss turned bright red, "DAD! We're not even- Why would you-?"

"Relax," Blake smiled, giving Weiss a hug before returning her attention to the call. "Thank you, sir. It means a lot to have your blessing."

"You're quite welcome," he said, sounding almost happy. "You seem like a wonderful young lady from what Weiss and Winter have told me. I do look forward to this summer when I can finally meet you in person. Until then, I want you two to be safe, be smart, and keep your focus on school. A girlfriend is no excuse for less than stellar grades, princess."

"Dad..." Weiss groaned, incredibly embarrassed.

"Alright, alright. I'll let you get back to your evening. I love you, princess. Take care, Blake."

"Love you too, daddy. Goodnight!"

"Remember when you thought he'd kick you out for being gay?" Blake asked as Weiss hung up, wearing a smug grin.

The heiress stuck her tongue out, "Oh hush. I can't believe he'd be this accepting though... It makes me feel like he's not being totally honest."

Blake gave a slight shrug, "It didn't sound like it. He sounded kinda hurt that you thought you had to lie. I guess he's upset that you don't think you can depend on him for support."

"Can you blame me? I see what you mean though."

"He's your dad," Blake smiled. "He'll love you no matter what because you're his daughter. Now, I dunno about you, but I could really use a night in after everything that's happened today. Remflix and chill?"

* * *

The next day came, and the weather outside seemed to reflect how everyone was feeling. It was overcast, a bit chilly, with showers coming and going throughout the morning. It made for a dreary walk to breakfast, but it started to clear up a little by lunchtime. Weiss was especially happy to see that shift, because she and Blake had plans to go into town for the afternoon. They stayed close together under their umbrella on their way to the airships, but it would take more than just some bad weather to ruin their date.

Blake stretched as they took their seats, the gloomy sky making her feel more tired than usual. "So where are we going?"

"I thought I'd let you decide," Weiss replied with a shy smile. "I've got everything after lunch planned out, but I'll let you decide where we're going first."

"Hmm... Alright," Blake chuckled, shaking her head. "It's gonna be on the Faunus side of town. I hope you know that. Let's see... There's a deli I haven't been to in a really long time."

"Perfect! The place we're going after is in the middle of the city, so that works pretty well."

"Should I be afraid?" Blake asked, and Weiss shook her head in response. She wasn't entirely convinced, but she figured it couldn't be too bad of a secret.

They disembarked at the docks, and Blake took Weiss' hand to lead her to the restaurant. As they made their way into the Faunus district, Weiss noticed a completely different atmosphere than before. Last time they'd come through, the stares she got were cold, confused, even angry, but not this time. The subtle whispers of passing people seemed more benign, and most of them seemed to perk up at the sight of her. The feel in the air was friendly, even welcoming, and surprisingly, it was more unsettling than before. She tried to convince herself that it was all in her head, but it very clearly wasn't.

"Blake..." she murmured, walking a little closer to her girlfriend.

"I noticed," the Faunus girl replied, her uneasy tone reflecting Weiss'. "This is really weird... Do you think they know?"

Weiss cocked her head to the side, "That it was me? But how would they? My name wasn't attached to it at all."

The pleasant smiles continued to meet them until they arrived at the diner Blake had in mind, and by now, Weiss was convinced that something wasn't right. She wondered if Blake could be right, but couldn't think of how her name would've gotten out like that. The hostess sat them at a booth with a window, and the entire diner and waitstaff seemed to watch them walk over.

Weiss shrank back into the cushions, blushing and hiding her face behind her menu. "What the fuck is happening?" she asked, revealing her eyes to talk to Blake.

"I have no idea. Maybe our waiter can explain? I think- Wait, Nhat? Is that you?"

Weiss turned to the person Blake had suddenly addressed, who had come up to the booth and appeared to be their server. He was average high, jet black hair, with perky wolf ears. He smiled, "Oh, hey! It's been a while, huh? How've you been?"

"Really good," Blake happily replied. "Weiss, this is Nhat. We went to school together for a while. Nhat, this is Weiss, my girlfriend."

He nodded, "Nice to meet you, Weiss. You've become a bit of a celebrity around here."

"Why is that, exactly?" the heiress asked, deciding to just be blunt.

"The new law, of course! What else?"

Blake seemed confused, "But her name wasn't attached to it. She kept her name away from it because she didn't want this to happen..."

"Then why did you tell so many people?" Nhat asked, looking between them with the same amount of confusion.

Weiss didn't understand at first, but then it hit her. "The rally..." she groaned, leaning her head back against the booth. "I told hundreds of people that it was me... Fuck..."

"Oh, right," Blake said, coming to the realisation at the same time.

Nhat started to laugh and shake his head, "Well, we're all incredibly thankful for what you did. It's amazing to know that we have people like you on our side. It gives us hope that things are looking up."

Weiss had turned a bright red, and couldn't stop smiling from the praise. "Th-Thank you, but that's part of why I didn't want my name on it. I wanted you to feel like it's the people and the government that's on your side."

"And that's exactly what happened. You're being hailed as the catalyst that let it happen. We needed a hero, and we got one. Weiss, you'll be remembered for decades because of this. I give it a month before you're a household name in all Faunus families."

"Wonderful," the heiress grumbled, but part of her felt proud despite things not going as planned. There was another feeling creeping up as well, and she started to laugh. "So can we order our drinks now?"

Nhat took their orders for drinks and entrees, and their plates were brought out in record time. Normally, Weiss felt bad about her name getting her specially treatment for things like this, but this time she didn't mind. ' _I guess this is okay,_ ' she thought, smiling across the table at Blake. ' _Normally it's my last name that makes people act differently. It's nice to be recognised as me, and for actually doing something good._ '

"What's that look?" Blake asked once she noticed the way Weiss was smiling at her.

"Oh, nothing," the heiress giggled. "How's your cheesesteak?"

"Delicious. How's your salad? And I thought you liked not having to be proper when we're out?"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "True, but not all of us can keep our figure eating whatever we want. I'm jealous of you for a lot of reasons, but that one is absolutely the biggest."

"Well now I have to hear the others," Blake grinned, resting her chin on her fist.

"Uhh..." Weiss stalled, starting to blush. "I dunno... Your ambition, your natural skill in combat, your height... your boobs..."

Blake tried to hold it, but couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Seriously? I mean, I guess I am half a foot taller than you, but you're just as driven and skilled as I am. And your boobs are fine the way they are."

"No they're not! I'm an A cup! Even Ruby has bigger boobs than me!"

"Well, it's a good thing that I like small boobs," Blake chuckled. "But, if they ever invent a way to give you part of someone else's, I'll gladly donate. I wouldn't mind going down a cup size."

They spent the rest of lunch talking and laughing, with their original conversation setting the mood for what the rest would be like. When the check came, Weiss tried to fight Blake on who would pay, but lost like she usually did. She still left a generous tip, and the two of them left the deli feeling exhilarated. The clouds had cleared now, and the bright sun and blue sky seemed to further cement that they were going to have a great rest of the day.

"So what now?" Blake asked as they turned down an alley toward the middle of town.

Weiss shrugged, "I say we go shopping, but this time I'm taking you to the high-end stores along Calder Avenue. With any luck, I'll be picking you out an outfit that's worth more than most cars. At the very least, we're-"

"Hey," an unfamiliar voice called out behind them. "Blake, Weiss."

The two girls turned around, and froze when they saw a girl with pink and brown hair walking very quickly toward them.

"It's the girl from the train," Blake gasped. They exchanged a glance, each subtly nodding to the other, and prepared themselves for a fight.

 **That boob conversation is something that my girlfriend and I have all the fucking time. xD Except I'm the one with an A cup who can eat whatever she wants, and my girlfriend wants to drop a cup size or two. Also, if you're wondering why Weiss' father took the news so well, I'll explain: I expected my dad to flip shit when I came out to him, but he didn't. Sometimes, people surprise you. (: Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and stay tuned for the final installment next time! If it gets you even more hyped, it looks like it'll be a bit longer than a normal chapter. I thought about splitting it up, but the finale seems likes it'll be better all in one piece. See ya next time! (:**

 **If you'd like to help support me, there are links to my page on my profile, as well as a secure donation link through . Any contribution is helping me toward my goal of writing full time! (Yes, I know it'll never happen, but a girl can dream.)**


	18. Must Come Down

**Well, here we are, guys. The big finale! I hope that you've enjoyed the story this far, and I hope the ending lives up to your expectations just as much. (:**

Chapter 18: ...Must Come Down

"Neo?" Weiss asked in a mix of surprise and confusion as the girl approached. "I don't understand. How did you survive the train?"

Neo stopped a few yards from them and shrugged, "I can teleport. Not a scratch on me."

"For now," Blake growled, getting ready to fight. She and Weiss didn't have their weapons, but that wasn't going to stop them from trying. Weiss nodded along with her and got into her combat stance, preparing herself to use her glyphs as best she could.

"Whoa, whoa, wait! I'm not here to fight you! I promise! I just wanna talk to you!"

"What? Why?" Weiss asked, not flinching from her position.

Neo shook her head, "I know about Mercury. Emerald does too. Cinder still trusts him for whatever reason, but Em and I have no intention of going down with her. Long story short, we're both willing to give up any information we have and help however we can if it means we don't go to jail. Em, you can come out now!"

Emerald slowly poked her head out from around the corner of the alley, and shyly walked up beside Neo. "Hey," she muttered, knowing exactly the greeting she was about to receive.

"YOU!" Weiss hissed. "I should call the police right now after what you did. What makes you think we'd ever be willing to help you? Either of you."

Neo frowned, "Please give us a chance. All we want is to talk to Ozpin. You two don't have to do anything at all apart from letting them know what I just said."

"Not a chance," Blake spat back, just as upset as Weiss. "Emerald KILLED Penny. I don't give a fuck if it wasn't directly, and don't even bother trying to say it was an accident. My friend died because of you, and my team leader is heartbroken over it. Weiss, call the cops."

"NO!" Emerald yelled in fear as she watched Weiss reach for her scroll.

"Wait, just let us explain ourselves," Neo begged. "Look, we both came unarmed!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes, but did stop herself while she was dialing, "Why should we? If you hadn't opened with just wanting to save your own ass and stay out of prison, then I might be more sympathetic. You could've opened with an apology after all that you've caused, but you didn't! And as for you, Emerald, there's nothing you can tell me that'll stop me. You're a murderer. How can you possibly defend yourself after what you've done for Cinder?"

"I didn't want to help her," Emerald weakly replied, looking down at her feet. "I know how I must look to you, but this isn't the real me. I grew up as an orphan, living on the street. I had to beg and use my semblance to steal just to stay alive... I didn't like doing it, and I usually only stole enough to get by, but I had to. Cinder saw me steal a ring one day, and told me I'd never go hungry again if I came and worked for her. I just... I couldn't say no. For the record, I've never liked what she's been having me do, but... I never thought it'd escalate to this. I'm sorry, I really am. I'm sorry about Penny. I know it was wrong, and I should've stopped myself, but I couldn't go back to living in the street. You don't know how hard it is growing up like that, sleeping in the gutter and hoping that you'll find enough tomorrow to live another day."

' _Son of a bitch,_ ' Blake angrily thought. ' _She had to have the one backstory I can relate to, didn't she? Ugh... I wouldn't feel right about condemning her if she's telling the truth. I've done my fair share of horrible things too... God damn it..._ '

She sighed, not looking very happy with herself, "Yes, I actually do know that's like... I'm... I'm sorry you had to live like that. I know what it can make you turn to. That doesn't excuse what you've done, but I understand. I have a question, though. What do you plan on doing afterward if Ironwood clears your name?"

"Well... I guess I don't really know. But I'll stay clean, I swear I will. I know it's a stretch, but do you think Ironwood or Ozpin would be willing to help me find a job somewhere? Nothing fancy, just something I can jump in fast and make enough to keep a roof over my head. I'll figure things out from there on my own."

There was a short pause while Blake and Weiss though things over. It was clear that Blake wanted to believe her, at least for now, so it was mostly up to Weiss to decide what they'd be doing. The heiress looked just as conflicted as her girlfriend, but she seemed like she was coming around. Blake's reassuring smile was always enough for her.

Weiss finally nodded, "Alright, we'll take you back to see Ozpin. And don't worry about work, I'll find you a job. I have enough pull in this city to get you in somewhere and find you an apartment. That is, if Ozpin decides to trust you. What about you, Neo?"

"Same thing, I guess," Neo replied, her and Emerald's faces both lighting up. "My story is pretty close to Emeralds. Em, do you think that you, me, and Merc could get along if we all shared a one-bedroom apartment? No reason to split up yet if we can all pitch in until we figure out what the fuck to do with ourselves."

"I'm sure we could," Emerald chuckled, then looked back up at Weiss and Blake with hopeful eyes. "So... you'll help us talk to Ozpin?"

Blake and Weiss exchanged a glance, but they both already knew what they were going to say. Blake smiled, "Yeah, we'll take you. Let's go."

It was an awkward flight back, but it wasn't the most awkward thing that they'd been through this semester. The four girls idly chatted until they landed back on campus, and Weiss and Blake were starting to get the idea that their possible ex-enemies were acting genuine. They could see how open and friendly Neo and Emerald were being, and nothing that was said set off any alarms in their heads. It reminded Weiss of how Mercury talked to her after he defected, which helped their case even more.

The heiress made a call to Ozpin once they were off the ship, letting him know that they were on their way and why. When the girls arrived in his office, the headmaster was ready and waiting for them, along with General Ironwood, Professor Goodwitch, and Qrow.

"Here we go," Neo nervously whispered to herself, but Weiss still heard her.

Ozpin smiled as they approached, "Good afternoon, ladies. This is a wonderful stroke of luck to have with the end of tournament drawing close."

Emerald let out a deep breath, "Yeah, you could say that. So uh... what happens now?"

"Now?" Qrow asked. "Now we talk, or more precisely, you talk. If we like what you say, you might just earn yourself a 'Get out of jail free' card. Not likely, but hey, we'll see."

Ironwood nodded in agreement, "Weiss, Blake, thank you for bringing them here. You're free to leave. For the moment, I'd prefer as few people to know what we plan on doing as possible."

The girls didn't hesitate to head out, and quickly made their way back to the elevator. This had been a rather lengthy delay to their afternoon plans, but it felt good nonetheless. As the elevator doors closed, they could both see Emerald and Neo smiling at them with the most grateful expressions either girl had ever seen, and Neo even mouthed the words "Thank you."

Blake chuckled as they started their way down, "What the hell did we get ourselves into?"

"Too much," Weiss groaned. "But, it's whatever. Now, let's get back to town as fast as possible. We aren't gonna have time for everything I had planned, so I wanna make sure I take you shopping. We're going to the same section of town as our first date, but this time I'm not only taking you somewhere even pricier, but this time you won't have your bow. Ready to turn some heads in the best ways possible?"

"You bet," Blake grinned, and they darted off back toward the docks.

The rest of their free time was spent exactly as Weiss had planned, dragging Blake through every store she could think of. The looks the staff gave them were as priceless as they had hoped for them to be, but nobody dared to comment. They knew that Weiss could have them fired in an instant, and that was more than enough to have them be polite and stay out of the girl's way.

' _I hate that this is so much fun,_ ' Blake thought with a smile. ' _But, if you can piss people off just by existing, you might as well own it._ '

They didn't buy anything at the first few stores, but after a break to get dinner, Weiss decided on a few things she wanted Blake to have in the final store she had on her list. Among them were a few designer shirts and jackets, some lingerie that was more Blake's idea than hers, and a stunning black dress that she'd found. Blake had been hesitant to try the dress on since she knew it would be pricey, but once she saw herself in it, there was no way she was going to leave it here.

They arrived at the front of the store to check out, and that was the first time that Blake was able to see just how expensive this store was. She cringed at the numbers stacking up on the register as her clothes were swiped through, but those were only the small items. The dress was very carefully folded and packaged, and when the price was rung up, she gasped out loud and had to cover her mouth with her hands.

"Holy shit, Weiss," she said in shock. "There's no way you can spend that much money on me!"

Weiss gave her a smug grin as she handed the cashier her credit card, "I can, and I will."

"Weiss, I'd be uncomfortable spending that much on my wedding dress, let alone a dress that we just happened across while shopping."

"Just you wait," Weiss giggled, "I can't wait to see your face when I show you the budget I have for a wedding."

Blake blushed and helped take the bags as the two left the store, "A wedding? Don't you mean our wedding?"

Weiss looked up at her with a shy smile, blushing just as hard. "Well, I hope so," she beamed. "One of us has to propose for that to happen, though, and we should probably wait a little longer on that."

"I guess, but that means that you'd better sweep me off my feet when you finally do."

"Wait, why do I have to do it?" the heiress asked. "I asked you out, twice, so I think this is on you. Besides, I- SON OF A BITCH! Blake, look at the time! Matches start in half an hour!"

The girls hurried back to campus and dropped off their bags in their down before sprinting to the shuttles. They were completely out of breath when they took their seats with Ruby and team CMEN, but they had made just as the first semifinals match was about to start. Blake sat on Mercury's left, who was sitting next to Cinder. Microphones had proved to be too clunky, and she had been the one designated to listen on them and relay what they said back to her team, Ozpin and Ironwood.

"Predictions?" Ruby asked, looking down the row. "My money's on Yang, but not just because she's my sister."

Cinder shrugged, "Well, I'll have to see who her opponent is before I make any judgments."

"And the opponent is?" Mercury asked in a whisper, just loud enough for Blake to hear.

"Shadow. Did you plant the shell in her reserve ammunition like I asked you to?" she whispered back, getting a nod in return. "Excellent. Not that I thought you'd fail, but I also planted one while she was in the locker room. I just like to be safe."

' _Shell?_ ' Blake typed into the group chat she shared with her team, Mercury, and Ozpin.

Mercury typed back, ' _Ozpin didn't tell you? She had me plant a shell in Yang's reserves that'll explode when it goes off. I didn't, naturally, but I had to be careful. Cinder's got close eyes on me now. Not even Yang knew. That said, I was afraid of this happening._ '

The randomiser landed on Yang and Shadow, and the two stepped into the ring. They grinned when they saw each other, and shook each other's hands as if there'd been nothing between them. Yang looked very happy to have her chance to beat up Shadow after her pregnancy scare, but her teammates didn't look as enthused. They all looked on in horror until Ruby noticed something.

"Hey, Yang doesn't have her ammo pouch," the redhead pointed out, drawing the rest of the row's attention to it. "SIS, YOU FORGOT YOUR AMMO! SIS!"

Ruby knew that Yang wouldn't be able to hear her, but the yelling was mostly so that Cinder wouldn't suspect it being them. In truth, it wasn't and the confused looks on all of their faces was genuine, even Mercury's. Granted they were relieved to see it, but it made no sense that Yang would forget like that. "What the fuck?" he said out loud, not sure what had happened.

"Unbelievable," Cinder hissed under her breath.

The match got underway, and Yang was at a very clear disadvantage from the start. With Shadow being able to turn invisible to her, she was taking a heavy beating.

"We're seeing Mister Sonic's semblance in action here," Professor Port announced. "While all of us watching may be able to see him, his selective invisibility means that Yang has no idea where he is."

Oobleck nodded, "Indeed, however, he can't maintain that forever. As you can see by the scoreboard, his aura is steadily depleting from its continued use. The longer he stays invisible, the faster it will drain."

Yang did her best to go on sound and try to block and duck out of the way of Shadow's attacks, but a sizable amount were making contact. Her aura was depleting faster than his, and she needed some way to fight back until he had to reveal himself. Fire crackled around her as her eyes turned red, and she slammed her fist into the ground, creating a massive shockwave of fire that launched Shadow a few feet back. His aura was too low to stay invisible now, so they were on equal terms for the moment.

Yang charged in and landed a very heavy series of hits, sending him just one aura point away from being eliminated. She used the last of the ammo in her gauntlets and reached for her reserves, but gasped when she realised that they weren't there. She scanned the platform in a panic to see if they'd fallen off, but they were nowhere to be seen. She turned back to Shadow with a determined look, smiling at the fact that she'd have to win by beating him with just her bare hands.

"And that's the match!" Port announced as Shadow was plastered against the protective barrier around the arena. "Miss Xiao Long is our first finalist! Mister Sonic isn't out yet, though, as he'll be competing in a match for third place. That match will be held before the finals, after our next semifinals match."

Oobleck continued, "By default, our last semifinals match will be between Pyrrha Nikos and Sun Wukong. And that match will be taking place... RIGHT NOW!"

The crowd cheered as the new participants entered the stage. Blake's scroll went off just as she was about to join in, and saw that she had a message from Qrow that was sent specifically to her, Weiss, and Ruby.

' _You need to see this,_ ' she read, seeing that there was a video attached to the message. ' _I'm not gonna show Yang until after her finals match. I don't want her to get too distracted by it._ '

She opened the video, and watched intently. It was security footage of Yang exiting the locker room before her match. Nothing looked out of place, except that she still had her ammo reserves as she approached the door. The door adjacent to the one she was exiting suddenly cracked open, and Raven was clearly seen swiping the reserve pouch just as Yang's head was through the door and couldn't see her.

' _OH MY GOD!_ ' Ruby typed back, making Weiss and Blake snicker a bit as they looked over to her.

Weiss started typing as well, ' _Interesting. At least she's safe, and that's what matters most._ '

"Ready… Begin!" Port called out, promptly bringing everyone's attention back to the arena.

As the fight began, the massive difference in the competitor's combat styles was very apparent. Pyrrha was calculated, swift, fluid, making precise strikes and movements while gracefully blocking and dodging. Sun, on the other hand, was much more of a street fighter. He moved with purpose, but wasn't overly flashy or showing proper technique. His style was act on the fly, do what needed to be done, and take whatever advantage he could find.

"This should be interesting," Cinder chuckled under her breath, but loud enough for Mercury to hear.

He leaned toward her, "Oh? And why is that?"

"Because I may have loosened a few screws in the monkey boy's guns. That staff won't hold up as well as he thinks it will in another few blows, and his aura should be low enough by then that whatever attack goes through will rack up another point on Pyrrha's kill count."

Team RWBY looked on in terror once the news was relayed to them, but there was nothing they could do at this point. They cringed at every successful blow that Sun blocked, dreading that that would be the one. The scoreboard showed Sun's aura slowly dropping off as the fight went on, and once it reached the thirty-percent mark, the girls were about to intervene where it would give them away or not. Ozpin told them to hold firm and not act, but none of them could understand why.

Pyrrha was on the offensive again, making attack after attack on Sun. He was having no trouble evading her and parrying with his staff, but then, it finally happened. Pyrrha swung across his chest with decent momentum, and the force of her sword was too much for Sun's weakened weapon to handle. It shattered, giving way and letting her continue through, but there was one thing Cinder hadn't counted on. After her patch with Penny, Pyrrha was being cautious, overly cautious. She swung through, and the tip of her sword broke the skin around Sun's ribs, but she instantly noticed what had happened and jumped back before she did any damage.

"What an unfortunate end to the match," Oobleck said, shaking his head in the booth as Sun put up his hands and surrendered the match. "But, these things happen. Hopefully Mister Wukong will be able to repair his staff in time for his third place match."

Professor Port nodded, "I certainly hope so. We'll be taking a thirty-minute break now, after which the final two rounds of the tournament will take place."

' _That's why,_ ' Ozpin sent to the girls.

Mercury shook his head, still looking at Cinder, "Ya know, you really should've had Yang fight Sun if that's what you were planning. She probably wouldn't notice the weapon failure and hit just as hard through it. So what's the plan for the finals match? Inject Yang with iron or something so Pyrrha's semblance will tear her apart like Penny?"

"Shut up," Cinder mumbled. "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. And I don't know... Let's go. We need to think of something, or else Neo and Roman destroying the fleet of airships won't be enough."

"Shouldn't she be on the ship then instead of sitting here with us?"

Cinder turned to him with a furious glare, "Don't question me." She stood up, stretched, and turned to her teammates. "I think I we could go for a snack right now."

Blake nodded, "I think we all could. Those were some insane matches."

Cinder cursed under her breath for her inclusive choice of words, but it was a little too late now to take it back. They made their way from their seats to the hallway, and stood for a moment to wait for Yang to get back. Cinder didn't look pleased since this was a perfect opportunity to get away for a moment, but Mercury insisted on saying congratulations to his girlfriend. Blake finally spotted her coming from the lower deck, and the rest of her teammates and Mercury ran over to give her a hug.

"I'M SO PROUD OF YOU, SIS!" Ruby cheered. "Do you think you can beat Pyrrha?"

Yang blushed from the attention and shrugged, although the tight embrace made it hard to notice, "I dunno, she's pretty good. It'll be a tough match."

"I've got faith in you," Mercury smiled, weaving through the group hug to give Yang a kiss.

Cinder cleared her throat to reminding him of what he was supposed to be doing, and after a little more banter, the two teams got in line for the snack bar. It was an incredibly long line right now since it was the break before the finals, and Cinder tried to use that to her advantage. She mostly resorted to texting between her teammates, which only made it easier to Mercury to relay it back. He did his best to stall and pick apart her suggestions, with Emerald and Neo helping him to do so, and they kept her from making any significant plans.

The group got their snacks and drinks and started back toward the seating area, but they were stopped before they got half way. Ozpin, Ironwood, Glynda, and Qrow stood waiting in the centre of a rather dull section of the walkway with no shops on either side. Weiss couldn't help but smile, but there was also a twinge of fear at how this could all go down. Everyone but Cinder knew what was about to happen, and as they were halted by the general, they all kept a close eye on her reaction.

"Hello, Cinder," Ozpin said in a calm voice. "Ruby, would you and your teammates please step over here? You too, Mercury."

The five students did as they were told, and Cinder's eyes followed Mercury the entire way with fire burning behind them. It didn't take long for her to figure out what was going on. She scowled across the way at him, "I should've known not to trust you. From the start I knew that you had no loyalty to anyone but yourself. I'll make you regret this."

Mercury shook his head, taking Yang's hand in his, "I am loyal, just not to you. I was before, but I've found someone better to fight for."

"Enough," Ironwood interjected in a very stern tone. The hallway almost seemed to grow quieter after, and in fact, it did. The people passing through were growing fewer and fewer, and within a minute it was just the twelve of them. "I've had my men close down this section hallway. It's just us here. Now, we can do this the-"

"Shut up, metal man," Cinder spat, a little too angry to throw better insults. "It may be nine against three, but I still have the powers of the Fall Maiden. Even IF I go down, I'll be taking plenty of you with me."

Qrow smirked, "Oh, yeah, that reminds me of something. Em, Neo, care to join us over here? Don't know why Ozpin left you out at the start."

Cinder didn't seem to understand at first, but her face turned to shock as the last of her associates walked over to join the rest of the group. They turned and faced her with neutral eyes, not at all looking sorry for their change of heart. Weiss watched as Cinder's shock turned back to confusion, then to bitter sadness, and finally to fury.

Cinder tightly shut her eyes, clenching her fists and looking down at the floor, "So this is how you repay me? I save you all from poverty, homelessness, abuse, only to have you turn your backs on me? I should've seen this coming from Mercury, but not you from you two, especially you, Emerald."

"Don't worry about the choices they've made," Ozpin said, still sounding as unfazed as ever. "What's done is done, and you're plans here are through. All that's left is to decide how you want this to end."

The sound of synchronised footsteps suddenly echoed through the halls, and a dozen Atlas military droids entered the hall from each direction. They formed a line and surrounded Cinder on either side, drawing their weapons and training them all on her. They held still then, waiting for an order. There was a pause, then, a complete silence while Cinder stared at Ozpin with hatred burning in her eyes.

"No, it's not over," Cinder growled. She still had her scroll in hand, and made a series of taps on the screen. The display turned red, and a black chess piece appeared in the middle. She turned to the soldiers with a smug grin, but to her surprise, nothing happened. The droids stayed exactly as they were, unfaltering in their watch.

Ironwood shook his head, "Your virus has been removed from the system. You have no control over anything."

"Just give up, Cinder," Glynda groaned, sounding exasperated. "There's nowhere to run, no outs to play into. It's over."

Cinder took a step back against the wall and looked around frantically, coming to the realisation that Glynda was right. The hate in her eyes was quickly being replaced by fear, and now they'd reached the part that Weiss and Mercury had feared the most. Cinder was corned now, and there was no telling how she's react. She could try to fight, but as powerful as she was, she was no match for everyone here. There was no telling if that would deter her, though.

"N-No…" she whispered, the reality of it all sinking in. "I can't fail her... I can't..."

"I'd be more worried about us than Salem if I were you," Qrow replied.

Cinder glared at him, but that rage was once again replaced by horror. There were teardrops rolling down her cheeks now, and she gritted her teeth as she tried to think of what to do. She made eye contact with Ozpin, then shook her head, "I won't die by your hands."

She lifted her hands, and a long, black dagger formed of the same material as her bow. She held it horizontally by the hilt with both hands, the tip lightly pressed against the center of her chest.

Weiss gasped, "Wait! It's not too late to-!"

"TO WHAT?" Cinder shrieked, now fully hysterical as tears streaked down her face. "There's no deal to strike here, Schnee. I've carved my path, and this is where it ends. I'll sooner die than go to prison."

Emerald held out her hand, "Cinder, please don't... Maybe there is a way they can help you. There's some good in you, I know there is."

"Don't patronize me, you little brat. Whatever 'good' I had in me was destroyed a long time ago. Everything I've worked SO LONG for has fallen apart because of YOU! JUST LET ME DIE ON MY OWN TERMS!"

"Nobody is going to die," Ozpin spoke, somehow still calm as he took two steps forward, holding his hands up. "Put down the knife, Cinder. Come with me, and we'll put this all behind us. You don't have to answer to her anymore."

Cinder's entire body trembled as her gaze darted around the hall. It was all in her hands now, and all anyone could do as hope that she's make the right choice. Finally, her arms dropped to her side, and the dagger disappeared as it dropped to the floor. She collapsed to her knees and started sobbing into her hands. She was utterly defeated, broken, and her cries reflected just how much she'd been fighting to keep it in for this long.

Ironwood looked almost sympathetic as he had her handcuffed and escorted out through the security doors. Qrow and Professor Goodwitch joined him in walked beside her. She didn't say a word, staring at the ground in quiet contemplation at everything that had happened. ' _I almost feel bad for her..._ ' Weiss thought, looking on with sad face. ' _I get that she's evil, but... she just watched months of planning fail because the people she trusted the most betrayed her. Bad guy or not, I can't imagine how she feels right now._ '

"So what happens now?" Neo asked, looking up at Ozpin.

He smiled, "Well, now things can go back to normal. You, Emerald, and Mercury will be under watch for a while, but it won't show up on your criminal records. Cinder will be held under the general's supervision for a few reasons, but she won't be spending her life in prison. She'll have a sentence to serve, but we'll see what we can work out. While you may have been pawns to her, she was merely the pawn to yet another queen. But, that's not something any of you need to be concerned with. Enjoy the rest of the tournament."

He turned and followed the rest of his colleagues through the security door, leaving the students to come down off their adrenaline highs from the encounter. The hallway started to fill up again as people were allowed to walk back through, and soon it was as if nothing had happened. "Whoa..." Ruby said after a moment of silence.

Mercury started to laugh, "Yeah, that about sums it up. So I guess from here we just watch the last two matches and then start looking for work? Not gonna lie, I'm gonna miss being an outlaw. Just a little bit. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to steal some little things every now and again?"

"I wouldn't," Neo replied, rolling her eyes. "We're under watch, remember? At least wait until after that's lifted. I'd really don't wanna push our luck right now. Em, wanna start looking for apartments? I know you said you would, Weiss, but you've done so much already."

"Agreed," Emerald added, and the two girls hurried off.

Weiss pouted, "Why does nobody like me spending money on them?"

"Oh shush," Blake giggled, stealing a quick kiss. "Well, I guess that's that."

Yang nodded, "All that leaves now is to- DAD?"

Everyone turned to where she was looking, and sure enough, Taiyang was standing about twenty yards away, wearing a wide smile as he made his way over through the crowd. "Hey, girls!" he happily greeted his daughters as they both jumped into his open arms.

"I'm so happy to see you!" Ruby exclaimed, burying herself in the group hug. "Why didn't you say that you were coming?"

Her father gave them both a kiss on the forehead before looking at Yang, "What, you didn't think that'd I'd miss watching my baby girl win the Vytal Festival, did you?"

"You're the best dad EVER!" Yang beamed, eventually stepping back. "Dad, these are our teammates; Weiss and Blake. They're actually a couple."

"Pleased to meet you," Weiss smiled, reaching out to shake Tai's hand.

"Likewise," he replied. "Ruby hasn't driven you too crazy, has she?"

The heiress giggled, "No, not really."

"Good, good. What about you, Blake? Yang causing you any trouble?"

"She's a handful, but I'm managing," Blake laughed, also shaking his hand.

Yang pouted, "Hey! I've mellowed out a little since the first day. You can thank Mercury for that. OH! YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT HIM YET! Dad, this is my boyfriend, Mercury."

"Boyfriend, huh?" her father asked, looking Mercury up and down before offering to shake his hand as well. "Well, you must've done something right if you got Yang to open herself up to you. Tell me a bit about yourself. What should I know about you?"

"How long have you got?" Ruby teased, but instantly regretted saying it.

Mercury sighed, but he didn't see the point of lying since it was all over and done with now. He started from the beginning and told everything there was to tell about what had happened. How he joined Cinder, how he fell for Yang, how he defected, everything. Team RWBY helped him along the way, and about fifteen minutes later, it was all out. Taiyang stood and patiently listened the entire time, not interrupting at all.

"I guess that's it," Mercury said, hesitantly meeting Tai's gaze.

Yang looked a little worried, "So uh... thoughts, dad?"

"What do I think?" her father asked. "I think you've found yourself a keeper. Everyone has a past, but that doesn't define who you are or who you have to be. It's clear he's a wonderful young man. Mercury, you've got my seal of approval. Just make sure you take care of my little girl, alright? Your old boss' wrath would be nothing compared to mine."

Mercury smiled and gave a nod, "Yes, sir. Thank you. I've gotta say, I expected you to be a little more on my case than her uncle was."

"Yeah, well, that's Qrow for you. You should consider yourself lucky that you won't have to deal with her mother. You probably wouldn't make it out of that conversation alive."

Blake gasped, "That reminds me, Qrow sent us something after Yang's last match. You need to see it." Everyone gathered around her as she loaded the video on her scroll and pressed play. She sped up to the part they needed to see, and couldn't help but smile when Yang gasped in shock.

"Oh my God..." Yang murmured, covering her mouth with her hands. "It was her... She must've known that Cinder had planted the shell on me... She stole my reserves to save me."

Taiyang smiled and put his arm around Yang's shoulders, "I told you, Yang, she's always been looking out for you. She was never good at the whole parenting thing, but she does love you. Even if she's too scared to show it face to face."

"Attention patrons," Port's voice came over the intercom. "The match for third place will be starting is just five minutes!"

That was Yang's signal to head to lockers and get ready for her match afterward, so she took off after a few more hugs and supportive cheers. Everyone else returned to their seats with Taiyang sitting where Yang had been, and they settled in for finale. Weiss and Blake snuggled up against each other since they weren't as invested in this first match, and after the day they'd had, taking a short rest seemed like a wonderful idea.

Shadow and Sun's round got started, and thankfully Sun had been able to repair his weapon in time. It was a good match, but nothing about it stood out as particularly interesting. Shadow was more conservative with his semblance this time, but ultimately the sweep of Sun's staff was enough to catch him even when he couldn't be seen. Sun was declared the winner and the winner of the bronze medal, but the award ceremony wouldn't be until after the next match. He and Shadow left the stage, leaving it open as Yang and Pyrrha stepped out.

The two girls shook hands and took their places, and waited for the signal to start. This was it, the final match, and they both wanted the win more than they ever thought they would. After everything she's been though, Yang has no intention of losing now. That said, both girls were smiling at each other and ready for a good, clean, friendly match. The fight began, and they both charged.

Yang and Pyrrha had been paired off to fight in sparring class before, but that was nothing compared to now. The effort they put into class matches was nothing compared to now, and they were both going all out, ready to use every last ounce of strength they had. They both knew each other's moves, each other's strengths, weaknesses, and everything else. Even so, it would prove to be a war of attrition.

The fight went on for ten minutes before the two girls separated to take a breath and rethink their strategy, still on their feet and circling the other. There'd been no break in the action up until now. Yang's semblance was in full effect, and power of her blows were nearly enough to send Pyrrha out of the arena with one hit. Pyrrha had been using her semblance to control Yang's discarded shotgun shells and fight with them, but they were too destroyed to use now. They were both exhausted, panting, with sweat pouring down their faces, but neither one was going to give up.

The crowd was still cheering, eager and waiting to see how this incredible watch would end. Yang and Pyrrha both knew that neither one of them had much left, and they needed to do something to end the fight. Their auras both hung around twenty-five percent, and one more good hit would do it. They both gave each other a subtle nod, knowing what to do, and both charged as fast as they could toward each other. The crowd held its breath as the girls yelled out and arrived on top of each other, and exploded in applause as one was sent flying, and the other declared the winner.

"What an incredible match!" Oobleck exclaimed from the announcer booth, turning to Port. "In all my years, I don't know if I've seen something quite like that before."

Port laughed and gave a nod, "Right you are, and with that, the tournament is officially at an end. Your winner: Yang Xiao Long!"

Yang was ecstatic, but instead of celebrating, she immediately ran over to make sure that Pyrrha was alright. She helped her to her feet, getting an even louder reaction from the crowd, and the two stood together in triumph. As much as each of them had wanted to win, they didn't care who took first place in the end. Pyrrha was clearly very happy for Yang, and they shared a hug before Pyrrha took a hold of Yang's wrist and lifted the girl's arm high into the air.

"WOO! GREAT JOB, SIS!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs as Ozpin, Ironwood, and Sun joined the girls on the stage.

The center of the platform shifted and sprouted three pedestals, each of different heights; lowest on the left, middle on the right, and highest in the middle. The three students stood in a line at the base behind the two headmasters. The medals were brought out and handed to Ironwood, along with a microphone that was placed in front of Ozpin.

"And with that, it's time to bring the tournament to a close," Ozpin announced. "All students who participated fought incredibly well, and it's time to recognise these three for their outstanding performance. In third place, taking the bronze medal, is Sun Wukong!"

Ruby screamed and cheered for her boyfriend, then turned a bright shade of red when she realised that she hadn't told her dad about him yet. She blushed and shrunk back into her seat, "Uh... Whoops." Her dad just laughed, along with the rest of her teammates, and they all resumed clapping for Sun as he was given his award and allowed to take his place on the stands.

Ozpin continued, "In second place, winner of the silver medal, Pyrrha Nikos!"

Team JNPR could be heard cheering even from across the stands as Pyrrha bashfully accepted her award. Even after placing this far in such a prestigious event, she was still just as humble as ever. She was blushing the entirety of her walk to her podium, waving only as much as she felt was necessary.

"And finally," Ozpin smiled, looking over his shoulder. "In first place, taking the gold medal and the title of Vytal Festival Tournament Champion, is Yang Xiao Long!" Yang wasn't nearly as reserved as Pyrrha, and reveled in the applause as she was awarded her medal and took her place on the highest platform.

Ironwood smiled and took Ozpin's place at the microphone, "A huge congratulations to these incredible students once again. And with that, the tournament has come to a close. The festival grounds will remain open through the end of the day tomorrow, so there's still time to enjoy the festivities. Thank you to everyone who participated, aided in the broadcast, and to all of you watching at home."

The rest of the night was a blur for Weiss and Blake, but they managed to piece it together the next morning with a little help from the rest of their team, along with team JNPR and Mercury. After celebrating on Amity with Yang and Pyrrha, Yang took everything to a party she knew was being at one of the larger apartment complexes off campus. This was after her father left, so she didn't hold back. Weiss and Blake made the mistake of getting into the spirit of things and thinking that they knew their limits, and had no memory of the party itself.

Weiss was furious the next morning when she was the only one with a hangover, even though her other three teammates had had just as much, if not more, to drink. Blake stayed in to take care of her while everyone else went to breakfast. She couldn't help but laugh, "Didn't you learn from the last time Yang took you to a party? We're doing the same thing now that we did then."

"Shut up," Weiss groggily mumbled into her pillow. "You drank more than me! Even Ruby did! Why am I the only one throwing up?"

"Karma?" Blake said with a smug grin, teasing her girlfriend a bit.

"Karma? For what? I got that bill passed! I should be set with good karma for life! I- Uh oh..."

Blake giggled and held the heiress' hair as she lurked over the side of her bed and threw up in the trash can, "Well, the world's gotta get back at you for your spoiled richness someday, right?"

"I hate you," Weiss chuckled, shaking her head. "But I love you. You should go to breakfast with everyone. I'll be fine here."

"Not a chance. I'm more than happy to take care of you. We can meet them for lunch if you're feeling better by then. Sound good?"

Weiss did end up feeling better around noon, so they were able to meet their teammates in the fairgrounds to try out whatever remaining food stands they hadn't yet. Team JNPR was off with one of Jaune's older sisters from Atlas academy, so instead the lunch group consisted of team RWBY, Mercury, Emerald, and Neo. They all split off to find what they wanted and reconvened at the picnic tables on the west side of the grounds.

"So whatcha wanna do today?" Ruby asked, not aiming it at anyone in particular.

Emerald shrugged, "Filling out job applications, looking for places to live, all sorts of fun stuff."

"I said I'd take care of that," Weiss said with an exasperated sigh. "I'll make a few calls once we're done eating and you'll be all set. Any idea where you guys would like to work?"

"Clothing store," Neo answered without hesitation.

Mercury thought for a moment, "Hmm... Is there a golf course around here? You're all gonna make fun of me, but I'd love to work as a ranger or something and pick the sport up."

"Whatever you say," Emerald smiled. "If you can get Neo and I at the same store, that'd be awesome."

Weiss nodded and took a note of what they'd said on her scroll for later. It was interesting to talk over lunch about the future since the two teams were going in very different directions. Blake pointed out that it might be possible to enroll at Beacon, but again, none of them were up to pushing their luck. Mercury seemed a bit more on the fence than Emerald or Neo, and Yang's convincing was starting to look like it would win out before next semester.

"We'll see," he repeated, giving Yang a kiss. "Maybe if things don't go well with a job. I'd hate to leave Em and Neo fending for themselves."

Neo pouted and stuck out her tongue, "Fuck you. Cute girls get tips, you won't get shit."

"Tips for retail clothing workers? You wish."

"You never know," Ozpin suddenly said as he walked up to the table, startling everyone. He was joined by Qrow and a woman with a large, odd scar on her face that Weiss and Blake didn't recognise. Ruby, Yang, and Neo didn't seem familiar with her either, but Mercury and Emerald both looked ready to panic.

"H-Hey, Amber," Mercury said with a timid wave. "Uh... Sorry about the whole trying to kill you and steal your powers thing. No hard feelings?"

Amber smiled and rolled her eyes, "Well, considering you're the reason we were able to bring Cinder down and restore my powers, I guess I can let it slide."

"Powers?" Ruby asked, not following at all.

"Don't worry about it, kiddo," Qrow chuckled. "Just thought we'd come by to say another thanks to you kids. You've been some damn good help this past week. Keep it up, and we might just have spots for you on some of our more secret operations. But, we can worry about after you graduate."

Ozpin nodded, "I can't help but agree. There are great things to come in your futures. That extends to the three of you, as well. It would be a shame to waste such great fighting talent by working in retail."

Emerald smirked, "What, have you been listening in? Then you'd already know that we've said no."

"Perhaps, but I'll extend the offer nonetheless. Should you wish to enroll as second year students for the fall semester, I'll be happy to sign the paperwork."

"Second year?" Neo asked in awe. "You mean you'd bump us up a year?"

"Well, you're old enough," Qrow answered. "Not to mention that you've been attending and passing all the first year classes for this semester."

Mercury grinned and raised his hand, "I'd like to reconsider my stance, please."

"Same," Neo added, turning to Emerald to see if she'd go along as well.

"Seriously?" the green-haired girl asked when she saw that all eyes were on her. "Wasn't the plan to...? Yeah, fuck it, I'm in."

Amber sighed and shook her head, "Ozpin, you've always been too trusting. But, I guess these kids have earned it. Sort of."

"What the hell did I do?" Neo asked, getting a few laughs from her friends around the table.

"Tried to kill me?" Yang pointed out with a sly smile.

"Hey, you're alive, aren't you? Apart from that and being Roman's bodyguard, which was boring as hell, I'm clean."

Emerald shook her head, "Whatever you say, Neo. So is there anything we should do now?"

"Stay out of trouble," Ozpin cheerfully replied. "Think you can manage that for one summer?"

"No, but we'll do our best. Thank you so much, professor. All of you, actually."

Qrow shrugged, "Meh, I think you've earned it. Yo, Amber, your flight leaves in half an hour. We should get going. Thanks again, guys. Ruby, Yang, behave yourselves. I've got my eye on you, and your boyfriends."

"I hope you didn't last night," Mercury smirked, getting a death stare from Yang.

The blonde punched him in the shoulder without a second thought, "REALLY? DID YOU HAVE TO?"

"Relax," Qrow laughed. "I know it's not the first time. Just no more scares, alright, kiddo? That's one thing I won't be able to help explain to your dad."

"I promise," Yang blushed, shrinking down a little in her seat.

They said goodbye, and the three adults left the group to the rest of their lunch. The atmosphere was even more positive than before, and there was no denying that whatever lay ahead of them would be great. They all split off after eating to look for specific friends from other academies and say their goodbyes, and after stopping off to see Sun and Neptune, Weiss and Blake decided to take a walk. They left the fairgrounds and made their way to the campus gardens, eventually sitting down on a more secluded bench.

"Recognise where we are?" Weiss asked, holding Blake's hand.

The Faunus girl nodded, blushing, "Where you found me crying after I came out to you. That was a weird day."

"It was, but I'm glad it happened. I still can't believe you were so nervous about talking to me."

"Can you blame me?" Blake asked with a shy smile. "I'm a Faunus who came from nothing, and you're the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the world. You don't think that's a little intimidating?"

The heiress rolled her eyes, "I guess. And yet I'm the one that had to ask you out. Twice, I might add."

"You're never gonna let that go, are you? I can see you somehow working that into your wedding vows."

"Naturally," Weiss grinned, leaning in and giving Blake a kiss. "Promise me it'll always be like this? I hope we never lose our spark."

"To my dying breath," Blake promised with a wide smile.

They came together for another, longer kisses, tightly wrapping themselves in each other's arms. They'd been through so much in such a short amount of time, but if anything, that'd only brought them closer. They were still young, and they still had a long way to go and plenty of obstacles left to overcome, but for now, they were happy, they loved each other, and they were ready to face whatever the world could possibly throw at them next.

The End

 **Thank you so much for reading, it really means a lot! I've got two brand new RWBY stories that'll be coming out soon, as well as continuing my "A Neo Outlook on Life" series, so be sure to follow me to see them when they come out! Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you thought of the story, and I hope to see you again in another story. Love you guys! (:**

 **For those curious, the new stories I'll be starting are:  
** **"The Emerald Diary" - A first-person mini-series told by Emerald in the wake of the Vytal Festival. After running away in the aftermath of the attack on Beacon, she has nowhere to go and nobody to turn to. She wants to somehow make things right after what she's done, but doesn't know where or how to start.  
"Becoming Ourselves" - A Freezerburn/Ladybug romance that won't be like any other you've ever read. I think I'll just leave it at that. (; I'm not sure how it'll go over since I plan on hitting some tough topics, but I think I can pull it off.**

 **If you'd like to help support me, you'll find a link to my on my profile. I'll be releasing the alternate version of this chapter on my page later this week, which will have a different conclusion to how the Cinder story arc wraps up. My supporters get things like weekly Q &A vlogs, personalised one-shots, alternate chapters, stuff like that. It's mandatory in any way, but if you're feeling generous enough, your support is greatly appreciated. (:**


End file.
